A Welcomed Partnership
by Girl of Light Writer
Summary: [complete]A new world to explore, May’s alone, new contests, new challenges, and a fight for friendship and life. What will May do when she needs something she doesn’t have but, wait, she does! She just hasn’t realized it yet. Drew X May Contestshipping
1. ◊ The New Region◊

A Welcomed Partnership

Girl of Light Writter: Aniecä

A/N: I told myself I wouldn't write any other fics until I finished another. It's so hard for me but I've still got extra time on weekends to write this but it's not a regular one, it's a special story. It's a pokémon fic, to be specific it's a contest-shipping which I'm not completely sure what that means only that it has to do with the contests in the series and in involves the Drew X May pairing which this is totally about. Here we go!

Title: A Welcomed Partnership

Estimated update wait: 10 days max.

Estimated number of chaps: 10

Estimated Number of MW Pages: 90

Pairings: May X Drew, Misty X Ash

Summary: A new world to explore, May's by herself, new type of contests, a new challenge, and a fight for existence, importance, friendship and life. What will May do when she needs something she doesn't have but, wait, she does! She just hasn't realized it yet. Drew X May

Ages: May Adena and Drew Kito are both 16, they have finished their journeys in the other regions and leaving to this new place. I made up their last names just to let you know.

Key: ¤ (change of time) ¤ ∆(change of location)∆ ◊(chapter)◊ Ж(Flashback)Ж Φ(Viewpoint)Φ

◊(1: The New Region)◊

∆(Lazio Region)∆ Φ(May)Φ ¤(Years after their last festival)¤

I sat down at the bench; I had been traveling all on my own for a while now, 3 weeks and 5 days to be exact. It was getting quite lonely. I had Beautifly, Eevee and Squirtle with me. I understood while Ash loved traveling with people, traveling on your own was prone to boring excite less journeys. I had asked for his, I sighed. I really had, hadn't I?

I had competed in all the different cups, won my 5 ribbons in all the other regions and now it was time for the largest except, the problem was no one I knew entered this region. Max and Ash went somewhere to work with pokémon and get badges and such. This region had no gyms; which meant all you did here was, wait for another pokémon contest but I hadn't gotten that far yet, I am barely in the region.

After traveling all day I finally arrived at the pokémon center. "Nurse Joy of Media Town I presume?" I asked.

"Yes, so would you like a room, we only have one other person here for our contest tomorrow." I nodded. When were all these coordinators coming? "Single, double?" She asked.

"Single," I answered. Usually I had shared a quadruple room with Ash, Brock, and Max. I really was missing them. "When's dinner served?" I asked.

"It's served at promptly 6 o'clock." She responded. "I won't be here but the meal will be set up and you will dine with the boy at 6, okay?" She asked.

"Yeah okay, do you know his name?" I hoped he was someone I had previously met before, I hoped. That would save me a lot of annoyance.

"Sorry, he just came in today too, only a few hours ago. He's sleeping but make sure you wake him up half pasted 5, okay?" She asked.

"Okay, I'll be sure to." It was 4 now. That gave me an hour and a half before I had to wake this boy up and prepare for dinner.

The time past quickly and before I knew it I had fallen asleep. Then I heard footsteps from outside the door. I probably missed dinner, and the boy was here to yell at me for not waking him up as well. I opened the door and walked to the table hoping for something to be left over but there was nothing. I looked at the clock 5:45. I hadn't missed lunch but the boy should have been awoken a while ago but he'd forgive me hopefully.

There was a note on the table, 'Dear Ms. The other boy is in rm. 4, across the hall from you. He has green eyes. That's all I can remember. Also, your pokémon all check out and your pass and file are placed in this envelope. –Nurse Joy,' I sat down waiting for the food to arrive. I supposed a pokémon of some sort would be here. I walked around and realized the boy wasn't awake so I went to the room and gently knocked on it I heard a yawn and a reply to leave and I walked off after that.

I sat at the table; the clock was blinking 5:54. I sighed and set my head on the table, prepared to take a long nap but then I heard a voice. "May, I'm surprised to see you here." A voice said. I knew that voice. I quickly sat up and met eyes with the green eyed, green haired boy, my rival, Drew.

"Hey Drew, I'm surprised to see you here too. I thought I'd never run into someone I knew."

"I'd be the only one, no one from Hoenn went here, and they were all and didn't like the challenge of it, weaklings. So what brings you to this particular contest and city?" He asked.

"It was the first city I came across." I replied dryly.

"Ah, so you haven't been here long?" He asked.

"This is the first city I've seen." I answered.

"Ah, then you should come along with me, I've traveled all over the area all summer so I know the region. I mean, if you want to you could. This is the first contest, that's why I'm here."

"Then I guess I made it just in time to enter."

"Not really, they say that most who try to enter without seeing a Lazio Region match before hand all lose, they don't meet the speculations." He responded.

"What kind of speculations?" I asked.

"I heard they have extremely weird rules to all their contests, that's why most newbie trainers and coordinators stay away from here, only top notch coordinators like myself are worthy to compete." I laughed.

"You're not that much better then me Drew, I'll show what I can do tomorrow." I answered.

"I can't wait but I'm not competing. I'm being smart and watching the first one." He responded.

"That's smart but I'm going to give my best try my first time, and show you my skills."

"You do that, then I'll watch you fall." He answered.

"You'll never get off my back, will you?"

"Not in a million years, May." He responded.

"Dinner," I said finally as Chansey pulled up to the table with our meals.

"I never expected you to have such a large appetite." Drew added after we had finished eating.

"I've been traveling all day, you've slept all day so clearly I'd be hungry; seeing as I haven't seen a great meal like that since I left home." I responded.

"If you can't take care of yourself then I would like to remind you to come along with me in the region since I know where everything's going on at." He added.

"I might take you up at that, but I'd like to see how I can handle myself in this region first." I answered.

"It makes sense, I mean for you, after all." He replied.

"Which of your pokémon do you have with you?" I asked him, just to make conversation.

"Just Rosellia and Butterfree," He answered. "You?" He asked back.

"Squirtle, Eevee and Beautifly," I responded.

"That makes sense, your newest two and Beautifly, they need more experience. Then you have a more experienced one as well." He advised.

"They are both fairly experienced and I have Beautifly to start out strong with, plus Professor Oak has all my pokémon if I need them." I said finishing up with filing the paperwork. "Do you know what this second sheet is; it's a copy of the second." I said.

"I was wondering too but I haven't had the time to ask, it seems that we'll find out tomorrow."

"Won't that be too late?" I asked.

"Not if you don't sleep in," He smartly responded back.

"Then guess what, your going to help me tomorrow by waking me."

"I know I'm going to have to since you can't even manage to remember to wake me up on time." I sighed, he was right.

"Sorry about that, I fell asleep; being tired from traveling and such."

"I understand, don't think that I'm saying anything I'm not. I'm just saying that I'm going to need to help you which everyone needs help, even me." He is such a clash of two people. One is so kind and caring, helpful and accepting and the other is so stuck up and preppy. I like his helpful personality better then his stuck up act.

"Thanks Drew, see you in the morning." He nodded and walked away giving a faint good-bye as he walked.

I found a phone and dialed Ash and Max's location which I knew to be a gym not to far from Petalburg. "Hello May, I'll get your brother." I nodded.

"Hey May, what's up?" Max asked.

"Quite a lot now, I finally arrived at a center and Drew and I are the only ones that are here for the contest."

"Drew?"

"Yeah, Drew is here too, well not here. He's in his room but he's competing too. Well not tomorrow he says he wants to learn the new type of battling first before he starts to compete but I'm going to try trial and error."

"I think Drew has the right idea, May. You should wait too, but if you want to give a try, who knows if no one else competes, you would win without a fight." I laughed, good one, if it was that easy they should hand over the ribbon.

"So how was traveling?" Max asked.

"Lonely and boring, I really need someone to travel with. Drew offered but I'm not sure how that would turn out." I answered.

"Yeah, traveling with your rival isn't the smartest thing to do. You'd have to watch out for him and stuff like that and who knows what could happen." Max said.

"I think it's a great idea, I mean he's the only person you know. Drew's not one to take unfair advantages either, he's against it as you know, May. I think you should really consider it. I mean if he knows the area and you don't, it's the smartest thing you can do." Ash stated.

"I guess you're right Ash, I think I just might. I mean I told him to give me time to see if it's that complicated around here if it's all straight roads then I won't need help but if it's like Hoenn then its best I get help." I explained.

"True, I wouldn't have made it half the places without Brock and Max as navigators in my travels." Ash added.

"Then I'll seriously take up his offer after the contest after I look at the area. It took me days to travel with all the contests before and just to get to a city took weeks; I wonder how the inner cities are."

"Most likely a bit less but still a lot, that's what the poke-nave said." Max informed me.

"Well I've got to rest for the contest, good-night." I said signing off.

I returned to bed and fell asleep and looked at the center of the moon in the background, it looked beautiful from over the trees under it. I fell asleep thinking about the beautiful scenery here. I didn't dream but it was a very peaceful night, quiet, restful, and it was the best sleep I've had in weeks.

¤ (The Next Day) ¤ 

I heard a knock at the door and I yawned and walked to the door and opened it, there was a note with a rose, it could only be Drew. It read: May, Nurse Joy said that she couldn't make breakfast for us today so I decided to let you sleep in until 7 so you'll be rested for the contest, and I'll meet you outside when your dressed, Drew.

I changed and grabbed my papers, pokéballs and anything else I'd need for the day and walked outside in a timely manner. "Took you long enough," He said training with Rosellia. "Rosellia, return." He said returning her to her pokéball. "Ready?" He asked.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see, be patient." He responded walking away as I followed him trying to keep pace with him.

∆ (A Small Café) ∆ 

We arrived at a small little café in the town as I watched him he walked to the man who was holding reservations. "Drew Kito," He said to the man.

"Yes sir, right this way." He looked at me and his expression told me to behave and follow him. He sat down, and I sat down as well.

"What would you two like for a drink this morning?" A man asked.

"I'll have water, and May what would you like?" Drew asked. I've never seen him being this nice, a fancy restaurant, and being this polite, what was going on with him today.

"I'll have water as well," I answered, I replied. I honestly didn't know anything else on this menu, ordering a meal here would be even harder.

"Very well," The waiter handed us two menus. "I'll be back momentarily." He said walking away to get our drinks.

"Drew?" I asked.

"Yes?" He answered looking up form the menu.

"Can you help me in ordering?" I asked.

"Sure, I'd recommend the Pasta Disorno, it's very delicious." I nodded and then the man came back.

"What would you like?" He asked.

"We'll have to Pasta Disornos, please." Drew ordered for us.

"Thank you," I whispered under my breath, he smirked and nodded. The man left and I looked up. "Thanks for taking me out to breakfast, I would have been fine at a normal café, you didn't have to treat me like this."

"Don't worry about it May, it's my treat. Plus, you'll need energy for the contest today. I'll enjoy watching as well." Drew answered.

"I wonder what makes this contest different then any others?" I thought.

"I don't know, but region has a special type of contest and this one isn't any different from any of the others, so don't think too much about it, okay?" He asked.

"Thanks," I responded.

"Yeah, well who do you plan to use?" He asked.

"I'm thinking Beautifly. She's doing well in the contests and we worked hard all summer for her to be ready for the contests here so she deserves it." He nodded in agreement.

We ate and talked a lot, we were enjoying each other's company. It was like a date but a bit less formal and we were both rivals, we could never go on a date unless one of decided not to be a coordinator but I didn't see that happening any day soon. That was definitely our thing, the rivalry and the contests.

∆ (The Contest Center) ∆ 

After that we went to the performance center and I walked in. "Ah, another newbie coordinator."

"Excuse you I have competed in many other pokémon contests and 4 festivals." I answered to the weird girl who was standing in front of Drew and me.

"Who are you?" She said looking at Drew.

"I'm Drew Kito, who are you?" He answered politely back.

"Dani, the DJ here at the contest, I'm tired of seeing coordinators, can't you all go away." She responded. Drew rolled her eyes.

"Come on May, we have to sign up." Drew said walking away. I followed.

"I'm warning you girl, don't think you stand a chance of winning your first time here, you don't even make half the requirements." She answered to me.

"Don't let her get to you May, ignore her." Drew advised me.

"Thanks, and don't worry I won't," I said giving him a reassuring smile. He walked off then stopped.

"Good; because you're better than that." He answered then continued to walk off, I smiled glad that he didn't think I was a fair coordinator anymore. We arrived at the desk. "Welcome you two, sorry I couldn't make you breakfast." Nurse Joy said apologizing.

"It's alright; Drew took me out for breakfast." I answered.

"That was quite nice of you him, so do you have your forms?"

"Yeah but I was wondering, why are their two entry forms."

She laughed, "You and your partner, of course." She answered.

"My pokémon gets a whole form I asked?" She laughed again.

"No here in Lazio we use two coordinators in a contest, tag-team as they call in else where. We here in Lazio think that working with people, fellow coordinators is an important as fellowship with your pokémon." She said.

"That's insane." I responded.

"No partner, no competing, sorry, that's the rules, bye." She said walking off.

"What!" I yelled. Drew casually walked in the room as normal after hearing me yell.

"What's going on here, I was trying to get a seat and I here you yell." I fell to the floor.

"Her in Lazio you need a partner to compete." I answered.

He sighed and flipped his hair. "Stupid May, you have one, Beautifly."

"No Drew, in addition to a pokémon partner you need another partner coordinator and a pokémon."

"That's interesting." Drew said. "Then I suppose I'll have to sign up as well."

"How will that help? Do you have a partner in mind?" I asked, he sighed.

"You stupid, you and I will compete as partners so we both get a chance." Drew answered, I guess that hadn't crossed my mind, to compete with him made us partners, not rivals. There was a lot of good in this, if we could get along and work together that is.

"Thanks Drew, you saved me."

"Think nothing of it, I mean we're both working it's not a favor to you really. We both get something out of it right."

"Are you prepared?" I asked.

He tossed a pokéball with Rosélia in it up and she came out. He smiled and flipped his hair again. "When am I not?" I sighed and we went outside to create a routine to enter with; after filling out the paperwork of course.

We decided after much thought to use a double butterfly pokémon performance through out the performance and battle levels. We got our passes and we fought through all the fights. I had to honestly say with both of our experience we were shoe-ins to win, I mean Drew and I separate a great but together we're amazing. It's not really surprising if you think of the logic but our performance is breathtaking.

"It seems pretty good, don't you think?" Drew asked me as we sat down with other coordinators and their partners at the table and ate.

"Yeah for no one being here yesterday and now everyone is here it's surprising, only a few hours right Drew?" He nodded and ate something off the table.

"I'm surprised that no where in the rule book it mentioned needing a partner to compete." Drew responded.

"I was wondering that too, I've never even heard of a two coordinator battle." I answered.

"You two definitely are new here. You're not even in the coordinator official region. None of those rules apply. There is three judges but each give you a score and it runs on an average, not everything counts, the beauty, teamwork, and cooperation are the things the judges judge on, not just the pokémon's performance.

"That's crazy no wonder no one else from our region came out here." Drew responded.

"Of course they didn't, all pokémon trainers in general rely on a relationship between pokémon and human; this is throwing in 2 new concepts, another human and their pokémon which has been trained by them and not replies to you. It's a true challenge. Only the best coordinators are able to."

"I guess that would be us."

"Not necessarily accepting the challenge, finding a partner are just two things, when you make it to the grand festival then you are considered a coordinator. You're still a rookie, both of you." Drew smirked.

"Then I suppose that title won't last long, like normal. I wasn't a rookie for more then a year." He asked.

"Neither was I Drew, so we should have no problems." I added.

"You don't seem to act as one that is going to be your major downfall when it comes to competitions." She advised. "I'd recommend being as close to one another as you can, it helps in the competition."

"What is this, a personality competition?" He asked.

"It really is, it tells if you can be a coordinator on both levels, anyone can get a pokémon and befriend it and win a contest but are you good with other people and pokémon is the real challenge." She responded.

"I guess, but we didn't come here to compete like that."

"Well you've signed up, right? So clearly you are going to try to prove yourself by competing with this girl at your side correct?" She asked.

"Yes, May and I are competing, and if she will accept I'd like to ask her to be my partner throughout the entirety of this competition season." I smiled and nodded.

"That would be great Drew."

"So Drew and May are your names, that's unusual. I'm Makita and there is my partner Lorenz." She said pointing to a boy her age. "Lorenz, we've got some newbie coordinators here." She yelled to the boy.

"Really, that's unusual, especially in this region." He said.

"This region?" I asked.

"This is the utmost hard region, only the most advanced coordinators come here, no rookies are allowed in. How many years did you prepare?" He asked.

"Two hours," I answered awkwardly.

"What? They let newbie trainers in here. What has this wondrous contest come to." Drew stood up abruptly.

"Excuse me but we are the top coordinators from the western divisions; don't underestimate us or you'll lose for sure. Come on May," He said walking out.

"I like you attitude Dude but how you treat your partner is sickening, you should work on that." Drew laughed and smirked.

"I may just take that advice." I was surprised that he'd answer that he'd be polite to me and not insult me.

"Good because in most cases you end up falling in love with the one that you partner up with and your relationship with her is going to be horrible if you treat her like that." Drew just nodded and smirked at him.

"Maybe, maybe," He said and he walked away with me following.

∆ (A Bench Outside) ∆ 

"Hey May you sure about traveling around together?" He asked. I wasn't exactly sure, I kind of decided on the spur of the moment my mind traveled back to what Max and Ash had talked to me about the night before.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I mean this is probably going to be the hardest thing I've done yet." I said answering happily.

"How so?" He asked.

"Because, I have to deal with you." I said sticking my tongue out at him.

"Will you ever grow up?" He asked.

"Will you ever get new lines?" I asked.

"I have some, I just haven't gotten a chance to use them yet, but trust me, I will." He said smirking and looking up at the stars. "They're nice aren't they?" He asked.

"Yes, they are." I really needed to realize which side of Drew I was talking to before I talked or I could make a mistake. There was his mature self, his stuck up self and sometimes another self which I couldn't describe but that one scared me, it was like Ash, willing to do anything to prove a point.

"You ready for the contest tomorrow?" He asked.

"I have to in order to keep up with my partner, the great Drew. I wouldn't want to embarrass you, would I? What would your fan club think?" I said jokingly.

"Like I care, and can you be any more childish, I'm trying to be serious."

"Well I don't feel like it,"

"Well you should, I'm heading in." He answered, he tossed a rose to me and walked away.

"Hey Drew," I said ushering him.

"Yeah?" He asked turning back to me and smiling.

"I'm one hundred percent sure that I want to be here competing with you. It's something new and exciting, I love competing and working with you is something that is different for me but I'm sure in time I'll enjoy your company more then I do. That is when we'll truly be good partners." He smiled and nodded walking off. "Thanks for the rose," I finished stupidly. He waved back to me like normal. It was his way of saying I heard you.

I lied down in my bed and set the rose that Drew had given me on the table in the room. I wondered what it would be like traveling with Drew. I had never traveled with someone my age, well no one close enough that I could develop a crush on; in all reality the guys I traveled with, Ash and Brock were more like brothers like Max then guys. Both boys were 3+ years older then me but traveling with someone like Drew, my age and a dude who was definitely not like family would be confusing, I would need help from Misty, a lot more then normal.

A/N: Well here I am with the first chapter of a story that isn't supposed to exist but it does, ha. I beat myself up over whether to put it up or not but I thought I should. So I did.


	2. ◊ A New Relationship ◊

◊ (2: A New Relationship) ◊

Φ (Drew) Φ/ ∆ (Drew's Room) ∆/ ¤ (Late that Night) ¤ 

I've never traveled with anyone throughout all my years being a coordinator. I never stopped to make friends; I guess I could say May is my only friend, maybe her friends are mine too? I guess they consider me their friend so I could as well. I in general don't make friends very well, or easily. I just don't see the point but May is someone I wanted to befriend, I choose to. I don't know why but I did. She had a special talent that I wanted to help her realize.

What that girl and boy where talking about was not something I had never heard before. My mother, father, and even my own sister had all advised me to go find some girl and settle down. I should start dating; I'm sixteen and other jokes of stuff like that.

I wasn't no matter what anyone said a 'romantic' type. That's what everyone one saw me as, the fan girls, and other people I met along the way. The only person who knows I'm not is May possibly. Most take the roses I give out the wrong way. I don't know what they are.

The roses are a symbol of me to start with, the mean that I've been there, or to remember me by. They're my symbol so to say. Most say, Roses are a symbol of love. To me they're a symbol of me. I leave then with a few people where ever I go. Girls as I meet them, it's like a greeting to some it's something that happens so regularly, well just May. Most of the girls I hand roses to I'll never see again which in most cases, I'm fine with.

May, she's another story. Everyone, and also probably her, think that I live just to torment her and trick her. I am her soul rival and we will forever be rivals. That's all we'll ever be, we will never go beyond friends. In reality, I'd be happy with being friends with her. She's lucky if she can make friends with me, talented more or less. You have to be extremely talented in making friends if you can make friends with me. It's a hard task to accomplish. But that's what we are, rivals and friends.

I don't like being told that I need to grow up because in serious reality, I'm grown up. I just haven't lived a stereotyped life. I mean Ash is what 2 years older than me and look at him he's still training as well. I was thinking about being a judge for coordinator contest but I knew that would be a waste of talent so I skipped over it and continued competing.

As for settling down with a girl, and dating girls, ha! That's the biggest joke I've heard in a while. I'm 16 years old. I've only met a handful of girls out of all these regions that are worth remembering, May, Misty, and a few other top notch coordinators that I can't remember their names but if say them I would. That's about how much I care about girls. I live for competing, nothing more or less of that. You could say that I'm selfish, or loveless or sad but I don't care I just know I'm not all that interested in dating.

I honestly could say that there's only one girl I've met who've I've been even a tiny bit interested in dating. That girl happens to be May, many would say lucky her or something like that. I don't even know why I see her as special compared to others. I guess it's just because she's a great coordinator and she's beaten me a few times. I've got enough pride to admit she's beaten me. I don't think it's possible to be able to date her though, not in all the years, would I be able to. I just don't think starting a romantic relationship with her is possible. We don't get along as well as we should most of the while, you never know.

I heard a sound coming from the outer room. There were those two people from before. I went to bed ignoring them, and then I fell asleep and the next morning I awoke and went outside to check on my pokémon who I had left at the Center's Greenhouse.

"Morning Drew, your pokémon are right behind that wall, okay?" Nurse Joy asked me.

"Yeah, I'll take care of it." I said walking over to the wall, opening the gate and going in.

"Rosélia, Butterfree!" I called to them.

"Rosélia!" Rosélia said popping out from behind a rose bush.

"Butter…free!" Butterfree yelled flying over to me, and landing on my arm.

"Okay good, we're all here. We have a contest to win, right?" I asked to them. They danced or flapped their wings in their respective ways of celebration and I looked around for May. She has either already waken up, still asleep or out here somewhere. It seems like the latter was correct.

May was laying in the field with Eevee at her side and Squirtle on her other side and Beautifly was flying above her in the sky. I think they wanted her to wake up. I know I need her to wake up seeing as the competition is in a few minutes.

I walked to her side and her pokémon cleared the way for me. "Hey May, we have to prepare for the contest, you can't sleep through it." She jumped up and ran towards the building but she crashed into me landing on top of me. This is not good.

"Sorry Drew, what are you doing here in my room?" She said rubbing her eyes.

"You're in the middle of the greenhouse May, not in your room. As I said, we need to be going. And also,"

"Yes?" She asked.

"Mind getting off of me?" I asked calm as I could muster. She climbed up and helped me up. I flipped my hair and walked away. "Come on, we've got a contest to win." She followed behind after returning her pokémon into their pokéballs as I did mine earlier.

We arrived at the contest and May had followed behind me not saying a word after our little incident a few minutes before this. She was definitely embarrassed that was for sure. I could see her blushing; I was extremely surprised that I hadn't blushed myself but I'm quite glad I didn't.

Then we got on stage as the contest began, there were a few townspeople on stage but no one else. I could feel May's confidence dropping. She honestly missed her friends; she was use to traveling with them so now no one was cheering her on, pushing her. It seemed I'd have to make up for that. I didn't figure this would be an easy job.

"And as always the number one contest of this region and the highest level contests are being seen on live television throughout all the regions so remember you're on TV and be yourselves." The announced Dani said excitedly.

"May you here that, everyone around the world is going to see this including your brother, Ash, Misty, and your parents so stop looking down." I said to her with that she jumped.

"Did you just try to cheer me up?" She asked surprised.

"So I did, it's no big deal. We're on TV and I don't want you to make a fool of yourself or me by sulking on TV because you're lonely." She smiled and nodded.

"Thanks Drew," I flipped my hair.

"It was nothing, I'm your partner, and it's my job." I responded. In addition, I didn't want her to make a fool of herself or I and I honestly didn't like May being sad, it was quite sickening how annoying she was when she was down, even more so then when she was happy. Now that was annoying but much more stand-able and better for the competition.

"Drew Kito and May Adena you're up!" Dani called.

"Ready May?" I asked.

"You bet Drew." She answered back. We walked up to opposite sides of the field and tossed the pokéballs up the clashed together and two-butterfly pokémon emerged circling around releasing a combination of gust and stun-spore. May and I walked to the middle of the field, at this point stun-spore had stopped falling and was replaced with webs of string-shot all over the field. We delicately walked through it into the middle of the tunnel shaped web and we raised our hands. Then our respective pokémon picked us up and carried us out of the tunnel and then we told them to use string shot to make a slide for us to slide down on, on opposite sides of the field. We slid down the slide and landed in the middle of the field and behind us, our pokémon had begun to use whirlwind and the web was blown-up and had sparkling dust in the air. Then we made another signal and they used gust to spread the dust around the room. This covered the entire room and us in a sparkly dust. Then finally, the sent out psy-beam into the air causing the dust to change colors and sparkle through the room. Then May and I held our hands up again and the pokémon carried us by our arms off stage. Then we walked back on stage and bowed.

"That was the utmost beautiful combination of two bugs like pokémon I've seen today and what amazes me is you two didn't know about anything about this competition until yesterday and you still preformed perfectly as a team. You could work more together yourselves but being new and still working on doing everything perfectly in time definitely a 10." Nurse Joy said.

"For being new coordinators in this area your sure know how to put on a show, I've never seen anything so beautiful. Most coordinators to an extend work on the people's in syncness instead of their pokémon and theirs but you have a 100 percent sync on both levels. It's as if you expected this. Definitely a 10." Mrs. Contesta said.

"You two make the coolest and sweetest couple, both you two and your pokémon. You are the most beautiful pokémon I've met to date. You two work as though you've been doing this your whole life though you just started yesterday, a 10 for sure." The Newest Judge in the area, Millie answered. I was blushing and so was she. She was twiddling her fingers crazily and looking at the ceiling. "Aw, that's beautiful; unrequited love." The lady said smiling happily.

"May and I, in love; that's a joke." I said May nodded in agreement. I didn't know what love is, for all I know, I could have been but if it wasn't I didn't want to hurt her. The scores were a perfect 30 assuring a place in the next round, which would be held. I had to talk to some people, my sister for sure.

"He's in denial for sure." Mrs. Contesta said smiling.

"Well on with the show," Dani said and May and I exited the stage.

"I need to go call my sister, I'll be back soon." I said walking off. She nodded and I smiled and handed her a rose. "Stop stressing yourself May, just be you. I will be back, you shouldn't worry." I said walking off.

I walked over to the phones and dialed my sister on the phone. "Hey moms, pops, it's my favorite little bro, Drewbie." My older sister said happily.

"Tell him we said." My mom called from far from the phone.

"Mommy and Daddy said hi," My sister said happily.

"Tell them I said the same thing. I need a bit of advice." I said.

"Girl advice?" She asked.

"Maybe," I answered.

"I'm happy for you little bro, who is she? Is she nice? Can I meet her? Have I seen or met her before?" She asked excitedly.

"Calm it, I need advice, I didn't say I liked her." I said flipping my hair and sighing.

"Well I still want to know who she is!" She yelled happily.

"Calm it Victoria, the answers are my teammate, yes, if you want to come out here, yes, and no." I answered quickly.

"Okay good, then I'm coming out there to see you two, I'll be there in a few hours, however long it takes by plane." She said happily. "But first, what do you need help with."

"I need to know if I like her." Victoria broke out into laughter.

"Is that all?" She asked.

"Yes," I said seriously.

"Do you enjoy being around her? Do you enjoy spending time with her? Do you like her behavior? Is she what you want in the girls you like? Do you think about her a lot? Does she make you blush? Do you deny you like her when asked or it's stated?" She asked.

"Yes, yes, most of the time, not sure and I guess, a fair amount, a few times, yes." I answered. She smiled.

"Then duh Drewbie, you're in love with this darling girl. I'll be there as soon as possible." She stated happily and hung up. I flipped my hair and sighed, stupid over happy sister. Can't she just stay there and be happy for me there? She just had to come. I wonder what May will think?

"Second Round competitors, be ready!" Dani called. I walked over to backroom and May was talking to her Beautifly.

"What's it saying?" I asked. I didn't have the bond she had with her pokémon but I could talk to mine.

"She's enjoying being back on stage and working with you." She answered me respectfully. I blushed and looked away.

"Well tell her that I enjoyed working with her and you of course." I said flipping my hair.

"You've quite typical of yourself, you know." She responded.

"Am I?" I asked.

"Yep, I say something, you blush, look away, and then after you stop blushing you come back with some comment, flip your hair, sometimes hand me a rose, and walk away on most occasions." She said, wow she really did know me. I am that set in my thoughts, weird how deeply she knows me.

"So I guess I am I've never thought of it."

"I know you better than you know yourself." She answered.

"Maybe you do, maybe you don't. Maybe just to surprise I'm going to do something to disrupt all our in-syncness." I answered.

"Like what?" She asked.

"My sister is coming to meet you?" I said calmly and smiled. I know what came next, 1, 2, and 3.

"What!" She yelled. "What made her want to come here, what did you say? Drew!" She yelled.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about it May, I wanted her advice on a topic and she wanted to help me out with it by coming here, nothing to worry." I handed her a rose, and walked on stage. "Come on, we're up." I said.

After the shock came over, she ran out on stage. She looked at me and I nodded. "Take the stage." We yelled releasing our pokémon out onto the stage.

"Now here's a match for the books, Drew and May first time coordinators in this region against our number one coordinators Makita and Lorenz." Dani announced she got on my nerves with all her doubting of us. We'd show her.

"Something bothering you Drew?" May asked. Usually she'd use a smug tone with me but May was my partner so she couldn't get on my nerves. I had almost forgotten about that. I smiled and shook my head.

"Nah, I think we're ready to go." We used all combination attacks, since are pokémon were both flying/bug type it was easy to use the same attack and match each other's levels on it. We used double solar beam on our enemies and they were down for the count. Then I quickly walked off stage and May walked after me.

"I'm going for a walk outside of the stadium for a bit, would you like to join me Drew?" May asked.

"Sure, why not?" I said.

May smiled happily, it seemed she was happy I had accepted. In most occasions, she would have expected me to reply no, walk off after giving her a rose but I knew that my sister would be coming and I couldn't let May run into her before I did.

May and I walked around outside until she and I sat down at a cliff that looked over a lake, it was beautiful. "It's beautiful isn't it?" She asked.

"It sure is." I answered back.

"Drew?" She asked.

"Yeah, May?"

"It was funny, how your sister's coming? I've never met her and you said that you've never been home since you left on your journey. I bet you miss her, don't you?" May asked.

I smiled. "My family runs contests in one of the regions I was in, so during that year, I saw them a lot. It's only been two or three years. They understand that coordinating is the one of the top things on my mind. My sister thinks that I need other things on the top of my mind, like friends."

"I agree." May said under her breath to me, quietly. "People are important to help you along the way Drew, you should see how much better you are when you have someone cheering you on and supporting you. It's a great think Drew, trust me."

"You sure you want to stay?" I asked. She seemed to miss her friends a lot; her attitude didn't stay happy very long. I was afraid that she'd be extremely depressed if she stayed even though she'd have to leave me. After all, maybe all we were meant to be was rivals.

"Of course Drew, if there's one thing I'm going to do is to be your partner through this league. I'm going to teach you what having and being a good friend is all about." She said happily. Maybe she was right after all; maybe she was here to show me the importance of friends, so we'd help each other out. It was a good idea. I smiled.

"Thanks May, if you can do that then your more of an amazing person than I thought you already were." I handed her a rose and she smiled. She was always extremely happy when I gave her roses, I didn't know why but that rose and her smile made me happy too. We were silent for a while.

We were sitting there when suddenly a crazy woman appeared and ran over and she hugged me.

"Um, Drew, who's she?" May asked.

"May this is my sister, Victoria." I announced after coughing to tell my sister to control her affection.

"Drewbie, little bro, is this is her?" Victoria asked me.

"Yes this is May, my partner, teammate, and friend." I said to my sister.

"Ah, I get it now." She said smiling.

"So this is Drew's infamous sister," May said happily.

"And you're May, I'm sure I saw you on TV a few weeks ago, haven't I?" She asked. I flipped my hair.

"May and I were on TV this morning during our contest and about twenty minutes ago." I answered.

"Oh yeah, that's where I saw you, just before Drewbie called me." May was laughing.

" Victoria, would you please call me by my name?" I asked.

"Sure Drew, but I much rather would like to talk to me. Would you accompany me around her May?" Victoria asked.

"Sure, I guess. Drew, how many minutes we have left?" I asked.

I flipped my hair. "Like I have a watch May, you have 40 minutes before we're on again." I said.

"Okay, we'll be back." My sister said waving behind her just as I usually do as she walked away.

I sat at the edge over looking the water. "It's quite nice, isn't it today Drew?" A voice asked. I turned around to meet face to face with my old competitor, Lily."

"I'm sorry; I mistakenly thought you had decided to grow up." She said spinning around.

"I'd like to keep my innocent state." I responded.

"Innocence is so over rated by dear friend." She answered me.

"I like mine quite much." I replied.

"So you enjoy being a child, Drew?" She asked.

"You don't have to be a child to be innocent."

"Yes you do, once you understand life and death you have lost your innocence which means that if you haven't learned it you're a child because only a child can escape it." She told me.

"I want to remain innocent if you don't mind." She sighed and looked at me.

"Innocence is a joke, Drew. So when are you ever going to face facts?" She asked me.

"Like what?"

"You're not so innocent in your thoughts. You like her; it's clear by ever thought that I read." She said to me.

"Where's your proof?" I asked her.

"You reluctance to answer me is proof enough but if you need more take a look at the gift you give her." She said to me.

"You mean my roses, so what? I do that for many people." I was lying and she knew it.

"Sorry but I know you better than that Drew." She said smiling. "Do you have any clue what a single red rose means?" I asked.

"Yes of course I do, it means Love, admiration, devotion." I said perfectly.

"How many roses have you given her?" She asked.

"A few dozen I believe." I answered. "Who keeps track?" I said.

"Do you feel the way the flower says about her? Answer me that Drew." She said to me.

"I don't know I'm confused about it myself. Do I love her? Do I love May?" I asked her and myself.

"Truly you're need for innocence has blinded you to her innocent state as well."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"As I had said only minutes ago Drew. Innocence is a state of being unknowledgeable and having not witnessed and ignorant of life and death. She is innocence. That can be in part why you and her are so very different, why you like her as well." She said kindly.

"I'm sure she's witnessed life or death before, she does have a brother."

"She is two years a senior to him. I doubt she has any recollection of this event, and also. You can witness a birth and still be innocent if you don't understand it in entirety, unlike you she doesn't."

"Are you saying May's as innocent minded as a child?" I asked.

"In a way, I am. Yet she is still mature, how can you be both? I don't know but I know that's what you seek but of course, you've already lost, both haven't. Mom's and Dad's wedding, Taylor's birth, it was all too much for you wasn't it?" She asked. "Then Taylor died, then you truly lost it and went off, you lost your innocence and you searched for it, and you found it."

"In May?" I asked confused as to her point.

"Yes, in May; she had never come to the things you had, I was surprised to hear that you hadn't kissed a girl ever, more surprised when I heard you refused to date but so many girls battled for your attention. Yet there was one who intrigued you. So I felt now was my time to tell you, you're the one who isn't innocent and you can find innocence. And I'm not going to stop you but in order to be shown her innocence you must tell yourself that you are not and that means you have to grow up."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Face the Facts, Drew; she's exactly what you've looked for and you're in love with her. Love is an adult concept, the mature have it, and children don't have it. While taught unconditional love, when they find maturity, lose innocence and gain maturity. In reality you think you've grown up but you haven't."

"So you're saying I'm innocent, yet I'm not?" I asked confused.

"Exactly, where are you? You are innocent, so we think but you're using your ignorance to fake innocence and hide from mature concepts." She stepped close to me and shoved me onto the ground and sighed. "Grow up Drew, you feel love but you're torn up inside." She said smiling.

"Why am I?" I asked.

"You're heart can't hide from the truth Drew. It knows what feels right to it, and that's May. Your brain is telling it otherwise which confuses you. Like someone drowning, at a certain point when you're drowning your mind says your happily swimming, and breathing, but your body is trying to get what it needs, air but it's confused and doesn't know what's right and you die."

"So I'm going to die if I don't grow up; that what you're saying?" I asked.

"No, but if you want to be happy and stop suffering I say you admit your feelings to her and allow your mind and body to meet up and realize the truth. You're grown up Drew, 16 years old. You're allowed to love, and no one is saying it's not fine to love. Just you are saying that you want to be innocence and there is no love in innocence so you're messed up. So promise me you'll grow up?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess I couldn't deny it any longer if I tried. I love May and I've been hiding it for so long I forgot what I was hiding." I said laughing and lying down. "I love her; I guess it all makes sense. The roses and why I care so much about her. It was obvious, but I was blind." She smiled and walked off as I fell asleep thinking of this.

I could feel an amazingly happy, calming and excited person coming toward me; I could feel myself waking up. "Hey Drewbie, you shouldn't sleep in the middle of a field nearby an ocean. It's not good for your health." A voice said to me. It was Victoria, I sighed.

"Where's May?" I asked wiping my eyes and stretching.

"She's feeding your all of your guys' pokémon." Victoria responded.

"Then I guess it's almost time to go on stage, I don't believe I nodded off." I said standing up and walking away.

"You've got a few minutes but I'd recommend you would want to go meet up with May." She said.

I flipped my hair. "Of course I am going to do that, after all she's my partner and we need to make sure everything is fine, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, you know you haven't changed a bit in behavior, Drew. But you've definitely grown up." She said.

"Thanks," I said.

I walked away to the place where our pokémon were and May was sitting there holding her Eevee while her Squirtle sat on her lap and Rosélia and Beautifly were snacking on some pokémon food while my Butterfree was resting on her head. "Rosélia," Rosélia called out upon seeing me.

May turned around to see me. "Nice to see you're back, were you sitting by the ocean the whole time?" She asked.

"Yeah, I met another friend of mine, we talked and she and all her talking wore me out and I took a nap. How was your time with my sister?" I asked.

"She reminds me a lot of you, but she is a lot more formal and seems to be better at making friends." May said.

"Yeah my sister's one for the books, no one in our family is very personal other then their family and a friend. My dad's only friend is my mom and my sister and I. My mom though is very friendly with all people, like my sister. I guess the guys in my family naturally are dependant on themselves." May nodded.

"That's how it is with my family; my mom and I are the gently type while my dad and brother are more strict, battle laced and serious types." May said then she started laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"Your dad and mom seem like two completely different people. It seems pretty unlikely that they'd get along." May said.

"Not if you think about it May, in a relationship the reason while people like each other is because they are completely different then the other, it takes acceptance of the fact that the other person has what they lack. That's why people fall in love." I said to her.

"Like you'd know why people fall in love, little bro." Victoria said walking over to us. "Though surprisingly everything you said was completely true. Let's say I'm a very shy person, by nature I'm going to like someone who is very friendly and can make friends easily because of my admiration of their shyness."

"But wouldn't the person be too different and they can't get along?" May asked.

"Well like Drew said, it takes acceptance of the fact that your thoughts are different and in connection to that, so people that on one level are a lot different but quite similar in other ways usually fall in love." Victoria explained.

"I guess that makes sense. If you're lonely you seek to find something to stop it, like that." May said.

"In a sense but Drew has a lot to learn about love, you seem to get it don't you May?"

"Yeah I guess, I wouldn't know love if it hit me though." She said sighing.

"Have you ever been on a date May?" Victoria asked.

"No," She said in a sort of sad sense.

"That's too bad; you're how old and you've never been on a date. Yet again, neither has Drew." I tried to stay calm but it was hard. Sisters, they should stay in their own business.

"That's funny, Drew has a fan club. I'm sure Drew's been on a million dates."

"You should know that Drew is completely dependant of anyone and everyone. I was surprised when I heard that this was a competition for teamwork but I guess people change. However, in fact, Drew has never been on a date. I needed to stay calm, collect your thoughts, Drew.

I flipped my hair. "Nope, I've never been on a date before either." I said showing how much I really didn't care. I would have like too but hey, it's not that important and, why would I date anyone I'm not interested in dating?

"That's surprising." May said, almost happily. It was in a weird way, reassuring as if I had a chance and she was saying that she'd happy that I haven't fallen in love or dated. It didn't make sense, unless she liked me? However, that couldn't be it, could it?

"Drew?" Victoria asked looking at me.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You're weird, what you thinking about?" she asked.

"The contest of course, isn't it about time to go." I said.

May looked at a large clock stationed behind me and nodded. "Beautifly, Eevee, and Squirtle, return!" She yelled. All her pokémon returned.

"Rosélia, Butterfree, return." I said calmly as they returned and I walked off.

"Drew, wait up." May said sighing at how steady my movements flowed into another.

"I'll be watching little bro, and May." I sighed, after she wouldn't give that up. After 16 years, I kind of knew she was my older sister but what did it matter? I said to myself.

A/N: I felt this chapter was long enough, 10 pages and I had to change over perspective to better this next part. I will be switching character views every chapters. I avoid changing character changes in the middle of the chapter because it's harder to understand what's going on but this chapter's up and thanks for reading. –Aniecä


	3. ◊Relative Terms◊

◊(3: Relative Terms)◊

∆(On Stage)∆ • Φ(May)Φ • ¤(Moments Later)¤

"Welcome to the final stage of the pairs battle round, these next competitors are fighting it out for their next ribbon." Dani announced.

"Be ready!" Drew said to me.

"Got it," I answered as we unleashed our pokéballs on the stage and the fight started. We were going against a Squirtle and a Charmander which being low level pokémon was surprising to see in the battle rounds.

I had always noticed but on tag team matches you never used two opposite elements because of many reason: 1, they could be turned on another easily; 2, they weaken the bonds of each other's attacks; 3, there is more chance that one of your pokémon will be it's weakness so ours wasn't but that wouldn't stop us. We'd go at it as if nothing changed and it did, we won and got our ribbons.

I walked out after the contest was over and ran over to the cliff and leaned myself over the edge so I could see what was under me and I felt the ground slipping, "Help!" I yelled and tried to reach the ground but the ground eroded underneath me and I started falling but I felt something around my waist. "Good job Chikorita, now pull her up." A voice said. It had to be Drew. "You weren't careful again you could have died you know."

"Nah, before I hit the bottom I would have called out Beautifly." I answered.

"Sure," He responded.

"Thanks though Drew," I said smiling.

"No problem, I watch out for you anyway. I'm mean we are partners now so why wouldn't I look out for you?" He asked.

"I don't know, I guess you do. I should watch out for you." He laughed.

"You can't even watch out for yourself so I think I'll watch out for the both of us." He replied.

"I guess that's what friends and partners do, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, friends and partners." I hadn't expected that tone from him, it was a tone that held deep emotion, a disappointment and dissatisfaction with me. Was I not good enough? I wasn't, that was why.

"I'm not good enough, am I?" I asked sadly.

He laughed and walked over to me and handed me a rose. "Stop thinking down on yourself, you're perfect." He said walking off.

I would forever be confused about Drew and my little conversation with his sister didn't help. She did a horrible job of explaining Drew to me but somehow I figured that she couldn't help me, for I was lost and blind to whatever I was searching for. It was there and I see it, I just didn't understand it and it was in another language. I was hopeless. I tried to think back to her conversation with me.

Ж(Flashback)Ж • ∆(Mall)∆ • ¤(Hours Ago)¤ 

"So how is all going with the contest?" She asked.

We had just stared you'd think that it was a very long contest that took years, but it took only a few hours. "Good but we still have a battle to go."

"I know but I was just wondering how everything's going between Drew and you." She asked.

"I guess we're doing well, I mean, we aren't fighting during it. We get along a lot better than we normally do."

"That's good," She answered smiling. "So what do you think of Drew, when you first met him?"

"I thought of him as someone who was standing in my way, a rival and was very competitive and stuck up." She was surprised that such harsh words had come out of my mouth.

"I guess that's true of him, and it still is you're just on a new side of him now." I said.

"Well I found out the true him in the next match when I got a Beautifly and beat him the first time. He was a very romantic type, kind soul-ed and caring. He was quite nice to his and my pokémon but not to me at that point. He constantly makes sure I don't make any mistakes and is very tough on me."

"It's because he knows you're better than that. He knows that you should be able to be perfect. He sees that you're talented and he knows you're doing well but he knows you can be perfect." She explained.

"I guess, but sometimes it gets on my nerves that he's like that." She nodded. "He gets on everyone's nerves because of that, you just have to accept that." She answered.

"I guess," I responded. Drew really is a nice guy, and can be quite romantic and kind hearted at times but others he can be somewhat of a jerk but it's not like that anymore, not since we became partners."

"So what do you think of him now?" She asked me.

"Drew is a bit dramatic, showy, romantic but over all I think he's a good person, talented and very helpful and caring." I said that's how I felt, clearly that's what I felt but why was she smiling so weirdly? Nothing ever makes sense.

(This is some serious Dramatic Irony, Drew has a talent of sorts for reading people and his emotions and May is completely lost but us, the readers know what's going on and they're clueless, good fun, good times.)

"That's good that you accept him for him and all. I'm warning you now, Drew is one that can change his whole opinion of a person at a moments notice so watch out for that. It could be detrimental or essential to you two working together." She said smiling and walked away leaving me to think about what she said.

Ж(Flashback Over)Ж 

How could him changing his outlook of me be detrimental, well I guess if he hated me, we'd have a tough time being partners because we'd argue, fight, and be like rivals that are paired together. It would be impossible to win a ribbon after that so I guess if something or someone caused Drew to change his opinion on a person then we'd be in major trouble.

Nevertheless, how could it be essential to this? I mean if he could change his opinion of me to that he liked me. Wait no, that would never ever happen. Not even in my craziest dreams will Drew be more than a friend or partner or rival to me. Could he? No, of course not, stop doubting yourself may. Just friend, that's all you could be, that was funny.

However, In theory, if he did then we'd be even more so linked then before. I mean his sister thinks he needs a girlfriend, maybe I? (smacks herself) No, stupid thought, bad stupid thought. What am I thinking? Drew would never date a girl like me? Would he? I'm so lost; it's not even funny.

Could I like Drew? I wanted to smack myself again for thinking such a ridiculous thought, but in theory, it all did make sense. It was one of those dreams that you dream about every night but you wake up disappointed so you train your mind to ignore those thoughts and go on with your life knowing how disappointed you are, but you move on.

Why would I like Drew? It still didn't make sense to me. I mean usually he treated me fairly, but a lot of the time he was still rather harsh and cruel with his phrases and expressions. He was just someone that no one could stand, because he was a loner, and for him, that was all right.

In all honesty, I could stand Drew. He was someone who you miss him when he leaves but you can't stand him while he's here so finding out which you wanted more was a matter of experimentation. Moreover, as for as it goes for me, I like being his ally more then his rival. I guess I do enjoy being with Drew but could I stand him on a relationship level.

However, the main question is, does he like me? I figured it was probably not but there was always a chance, I mean who knows maybe his roses really are signs of love, maybe he loves me. If it wasn't resting in the grass I'd fall to my knees laughing.

I went to Nurse Joy, "Hello May, what can I do for you?"

"Can you tell me where the nearest bookstore is?" I asked.

"Sure it's in main town and there's a huge library inside is a place to purchase books as well." She said pointing the direction of the door.

"Thanks and if Drew asks for me, give him this." I said handing her a note to give to Drew explaining my situation. It said; Drew, I'm shopping for books, be back soon. May. Short simple and to the point, usually how my conversations with Drew are.

I arrived at the library's store division and walked in. "Hello Ms. How can we help you?" She asked.

"I'd like a book." She sighed and I realized she'd need details. "I need a book on how to know if a guy likes you." She nodded.

"We carry many of these sorts of books for our younger customers, those in their young teens but we've never sold one to anyone over 14. I sighed, I'm 16 and loveless; not a good sign of my direction in life yet, I was content with it. "Don't look so weary dear, you have a lot of time in your life. There are a lot of people who haven't found love yet, just most have dated so much they are already keen to these things. That's all I meant." She said.

I smiled, "Thanks". I answered and I took the book and paid for it.

Signs that he likes you 

He blushes and sweats. You intimidate him.-He blushes sometimes if I catch him before he turns away, he usually stays very calm but if I pressure him into saying something then he does. He stares at you.-He always has paid a lot of attention to me, and watches me train and such but it's to be expected as rivals and friends because I do it to. He does things to deliberately gain your attention.-I wonder if he little jokes and the roses are that, I would think so but I may be thinking too much. He stutters when he speaks to you.-Nope, not at all, calm, cool and collected Drew. His pupils dilate when you are up close and you see them... Beware, pupils dilate when it is dim, mostly.-Like I would know, I'm not that close to him. He waits for you. He looks out for you.-He waits for me to come to contests and hopes I'll be there and he's always protecting me so yeah. He laughs at your jokes when no one else does.-I refrain from making jokes period that's Ash's thing. He teases you because he wants you to remember and notice him.-I notice him enough with his crazy teasing. Of course I remember him and notice him, how could I not. He listens to you and actually remembers little details.-I'm not sure, he remembers a lot of things about my contests and battles that I don't remember and things that have happened to me. He notices slight changes in your appearance.-If I had a change in appearance I'm sure he'd be the first to know, Ash, Brock and Max are pretty dull. He seems sad when you ignore him.-I guess, he ignores me back if I ignore him and it eventually gets on both of our nerves. He seems jealous when you are with another guy.-He doesn't like people taking advantage of me or guys hitting on me. His friends all know you when you don't know them.-If he had friends I could answer that. He smiles back when you smile at him.-On those rare times where we get alone definitely. He often stares at you and when you catch him, he does that cute head turn, very fast!-Yeah, it seems to happen, a lot. He performs sweet acts for you. He defends and protects you. He tolerates you being mean to him.-Yep, that's defiantly the answer, yep. 

I was as confused as when is started and I sat at a bench, I wish I had someone to ask advice from. Anyone would he helpful at this moment. I said and fell back on my back after finished the into with the 16 questions.

I went on one of the computers in the room and looked it up and took an online quiz I was devastated to find out that it responded with 'Barely Even Friends'. It recommended that I find someone who appreciates me more and is more caring and thoughtful about me than him. He's a waste of my time and we shouldn't be friends.

I wanted another online second opinion and a real opinion because many of the questions didn't have anything close to what he'd do and it was so complicated like a computer would know how I feel, or he feels for that matter.

The next one was a bit closer as in the choices it gave you, they were more general and had things that matched up and said he was 'head of heals'. I was officially lost now, I sighed. I'd find another site that would give me a quiz, again.

I took another that said he liked me but I just sighed and laid my head on the keyboard and rested. "May is there something bothering you?" Nurse Joy asked. I sat up and nodded.

"Yeah," I said, usually I would hide it but I don't feel like it.

"What is it?"

"I need to know if Drew likes me."

She laughed. "It seems to me he does, he's very kind and caring toward you, he watches out for you and isn't boyfriend and girlfriend just a term for people who are friends just on a higher level?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess." I answered.

"It seems to me you want real proof of it, right?" I nodded. "Ask him," Then I was sure that my heart stopped and I couldn't breath.

"What am I supposed to say, 'Drew, do you like me?'" I asked her.

"That would be perfect." She said.

"Maybe next millennium or in another lifetime; I just on good terms with Drew as a friend and partner. If he doesn't like me then it would make thinks awkward and crazy. I can't risk it." I said.

"And?" She asked.

"I don't know, what else?" I asked.

"Come on, you know." She says.

"No I don't, now tell me." I said.

"What if he does like you?" She asked.

"Huh, Drew like me? That's funny. I really would like proof. I'm not even one hundred percent sure that I like him like that."

"Sure you do, or you wouldn't be thinking about it so much, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So now what do I do?"

"Ask his friends if he does," I laughed.

"I already asked myself." I answered.

"Huh?" She asked.

"I'm his only friend, for obvious reasons he doesn't make friends easily, rivals and fan club members yeah but not friends." She nodded in understanding.

"What about his sister, you could ask her?" I guess I could but she might not understand but yet again, she'd be much easier to talk to then Drew himself.

"Good idea, thanks." I said running off to talk to her.

I ran to find her sitting on the edge of the ocean and staring at it. "Hello, May." She said as if she had expected me.

"Hey, Victoria. Can I ask you something?" I asked.

She turned around and nodded. "But of course," She said.

"Do you think Drew likes me?" She fell on her back and looked up at the sky.

"You ask him?" She responded.

"No, I know I couldn't ask him."

"You should…not be afraid of his response. Such is something quite childish." She responded. "Children worry about the outcome before it shows up. Adults accept what happens and vow to do better and change it. Where the change lies is when you're in teen hood."

"How old are you?" She smiled at me.

"Twenty-one, 5 years major my brother." She responded.

"Wow, that's surprising. I'm only 2 years major my brother." (Major is used in traditional writing in replacement of 'older', major means first and above rank so many years.) I said.

"Really, that's nice to be that close to your brother. I wish I was, little brother's they think they're so much better than you, they think they're number one and they think that's they're too important to care about you anymore. Well at least Max spends time with you, unlike Drew." She said harshly.

"But Max left me, only a while ago, being 14 he saw it smart to go off on his own journey with Ash now." I said sighing.

"That's how it is May, people growing up leaves you loveless and no one cares about you. It's a sad fact of life." She said, I felt sorry for her, even Max wasn't as big a jerk as Drew is to his sister. "I wish Drew would at least care about me once in a while. This is like the first time I've seen him for 5 years now." She broke into tears. "And what about Lily?" She asked.

"Who's Lily?" I asked.

"I guess Drew hasn't talked about her ever, he never does. But I understand," She said sadly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Lily is Drew's, I guess it would be his stepsister. Lily is 14 believe. 2 years Drew's minor. You see when he was 9 our parents got divorced, he lived with his dad and I with our mom. Drew's dad married Lily's mother and they had a child who soon died, about a year later, he left to be a pokémon coordinator. He couldn't stand death or life, something new to the world, was gone. He never got close to anyone after that. He abandoned Lily while he was suppose to be watching her, she was only 8 then but she came along with him for a while after they went back and forth at the first few of Drew's contests he abandoned her, saying that it was too difficult to face it."

"That's horrible." I said about to cry.

"I know and he left me and her and know we're both alone that's why we're both here."

"Why, I don't get it."

"Naïve little May, you haven't put two and two together yet." A girl said coming out from behind a bush. "I'm Lily."

"No I don't get it, if Drew has left you and abandoned his life with you guys, why would you want to be here?" I asked.

Victoria laughed. "We love Drew every amount as much as when he was with us. We want to support him, make sure he's alright, but most of all we want him happy."

"How could you do that? Doesn't he need to find his own happiness?" Lily laughed.

"Exactly what I'd expect you have all the answers they just don't click in your mind." Lily said.

"Lily is saying that he needs to stop moping and realize that truth." Victoria said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Mom is right; Friendship and Love are just cover ups for the truth." She said. "Drew needs to realize that he can love again, care for something he's lived 6 years staying away from people, not making friends so he'll never get hurt again. Ever see him when his pokémon hurt?" She asked. I shook my head.

"During one of the contests, I did. He brought Rosélia to me. I believe it was you who beat him. He was worried sick he ran to me and was almost, crying. He was worried he'd lose her. We've been worried that he'd lose sanity if the only thing he cares about are pokémon because they can't truly love him back." Victoria said. "Not like people."

"So what do you plan to do?" I asked.

They both smacked their foreheads. "You're blind!" Lily yelled crying and falling to her feet.

"It's alright Lily." Victoria said sitting at Lily's side. "Lily had been abandoned by Drew so long she just think that he can't love anymore and she worries so much. She needs him to be happy and himself again."

"I'll do anything to help if I can." Lily smiled and hugged me.

"Thanks but no thanks, you're hopeless. I'm taking this into my own hands." She said walking off happily.

Victoria waved and walked off after flipping her hair. That got on my nerves when people walked off without me getting my answers. "Wait, I need an answer." I said calling to her.

"You always had an answer, you just were too naïve to realize what it meant." Victoria answered as she walked away just as Drew always had.

"Does her or not?" I called.

"I'm not going to answer that. Ask yourself." I screamed why couldn't anyone in Drew's family answer a question straight to me.

I sat on a bench and felt crying. I cried for a while after I knew it was alright to cry. "Why are you crying?" A voice asked.

"Because I'm lost," I answered.

"How so?" The voice asked.

"I'm confused and I can't find my way back."

"To where exactly?" The voice asked again.

"To what I know is there."

"Weird, I don't get it."

"Most don't but I used to understand the events that were going around me but know it's like I have no control and I've lost my seat of power, control and understanding." I said crying.

"You'll be alright; you just need to learn to just let things go as they wish. You can't be in control. Only a child would think that."

"I could be a child for all you know." I said to this stranger. I heard them snort.

"I know that you aren't a child anyone with eyes would know that." The voice answered.

"I'm a child that's what Victoria and Lily said."

"They're right."

"See, so leave me to be a child." I cried.

"That what you want or do you want answers? This is where you make the choice, if you want answers then you must accept that you need to grow up, but you can always have your way like a child. I wouldn't take anyone else's innocence because mine was taken from me, so make your choice."

"Answers, I want to grow up, I really do." I said.

"Good then what's your question?" The voice asked.

"You couldn't answer it."

"I bet I could," The voice said.

"Fine, do I love Drew?" There was a very empty silence.

"I can't answer it, you were right but is there another one I can answer because I can't tell you how you feel but I could help you with another."

"Does he like me?" I asked not caring if I asked this stranger a question.

That's all I remember, not an answer. All I remember is meeting lips with the stranger and then I remember now, waking up on this bench with a flower on my lap. I couldn't remember what happened. Wait, yes I do.

I met lips with this stranger and then I began crying. "There's your answer, bye." The man said setting something on my lap and walking off before my eyes could open because I was crying. He was gone, who was he and why had he kissed me? How is that an answer and why did he give me a rose. The whole world was out to kill me with the complexity of it all.

I returned to my room, changed and cried myself to sleep again, it wouldn't have been the first time since I contemplated this question the first time that I cried myself to sleep. I heard a strong knock on the door. "Who is it?" I asked sadly and depressed.

Drew walked in without answering me and sat on the other empty bed in the room and I covered myself in the blanket I was sleeping in. "Drew couldn't you have waited for me to get dressed before you came in?"

"Yeah but I felt that I didn't have to."

"And why not?" I asked.

"Because I wanted to make sure you were alright, when you didn't come to dinner everyone went out looking for you." He said.

"Oh, sorry about that. I guess I forgot." He sighed and walked out. "We're leaving, the next contest is soon." He said.

"Yeah, I know. I'll be ready in a few minutes, alright?" I said.

"You alright?" He asked.

"A little down, but I'll be alright." He nodded and smiled.

"Don't push yourself too hard, because I'd be blamed for it. If you want to stay we'll stay. If you want to go, we'll go. Whatever you want." He said walking off.

"We'll go of course, I'll get over whatever I have, hopefully." I said smiling as wide as I could fake.

"Whatever, be ready." He said walking out. When he closed the door behind him, I leaned into my pillow and cried.

"Why can't I be happy? Why do I suffer so? Why can't I have an answer? Why are there so many questions? Why can't I know?" I yelled and started crying again.

Victoria walked into the door, I swear she was exactly like Drew, if not worst because he knocks but he is a guy so I guess it's equal. "You want to know, do you?" I nodded.

"Yes," I said gently.

"You can't handle it." She said.

"What?"

"If you could handle it, then you would have realized it a while ago but you're a child, blind, and stupid. Grow up May, or else you'll be left behind to die."

"Who would leave me?"

"What do you mean, didn't he decide to leave you?" I shook my head.

"No, he said he wanted me to be alright. He said he'd do whatever I wanted." She smiled and sighed.

"Well do you have an answer now?" She asked.

"No." I said plainly if asking for one.

"Good, well then I was right, you're a child, blind and stupid. Figure it out soon or Lily might cry herself to death." Victoria said walking out.

"Not if I do first," I said going back into tears again.

Eventually I stopped crying and packed up my stuff and picked up my pokémon and walked out of the pokémon center. "Something is really bothering you, isn't it?" Drew asked.

"Maybe it is, what of it?" He raised his eye brow at me.

"Excuse me, I'm trying to care about your feelings but you're making if difficult." He said.

"Sorry but I just finally want an answer everyone. Everyone seems to be walking off on me." I answered.

"I promise that I won't walk off." He said.

"Why, you always do." He laughed and handed me a rose.

"Because May, we're going to the same place. Now talk." I smiled and nodded.

"Nevermind, I'm fine now. That makes me feel better." He put his hands on his head and continued to walk.

"Hey you said you wouldn't walk off on me."

"I'm not, but we won't get anywhere with you stopping every second to be sad." He said turning around and smile. I jogged up to him and smiled.

We walked for a while and he hadn't said anything but Rosélia happily walked along side him. Then It reached night and he stopped causing me to crash into him and I fell on top of him. "What's the big deal with you and stopping." I said.

"Calm it May, my you're all moody tonight. We're definitely stopping her to rest." He said laying his book bag on the ground and laying down.

"Here, aren't we going to go to a center?" I asked.

"All the pokémon center's are another half a day's travel from us. If we would have left earlier then we would of make it but someone came late." He said staring directly at me.

"Sorry," I said.

He smiled. "No need, just lay down and go to sleep, we'll make sure we stay in the next town for an additional day to even it out, no worries." He said laying on the ground and going to sleep next to Rosélia.

"Hey Drew." I called.

"Yeah?"

"Where do you get your Roses?"

"Rosélia," She said.

"Of course, thanks." I said smiling. (He was smiling too.)


	4. ◊Prospectives◊

Chapter 4: Suspicions

Φ(Drew)Φ ∆( Pokémon Center)∆ ¤(Hours Later)¤

We're at the pokémon center now and relaxing, Rosélia and me that is. May has been to where to be seen since we got there. It's not that I care or am worrying. It's not as if she'd go far.

"Rosélia!" Rosélia said jumping up and running out of the door.

"What is it Rosélia?" I asked.

There was a boy unconscious on the back of a Blastoise. I ran up to the Blastoise and took the boy off its back and carried him into the infirmary. They could watch him until the nurses came. "Drew, the nurses will be here soon, can you watch him until then?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Yeah sure," I said sitting in a chair beside the boy's bed and kicking back.

"Drew, are you alright?" May yelled and I covered my ears.

"Yeah I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"Because Nurse Joy said you were in the infirmary, I didn't figure you'd be watching a little kid." She said smiling at the small kid that was sleeping in the bed.

"Yeah, he's pretty injured. I'll be at practice as soon as the hospital picks him and takes care of him. Just warm up with everyone for me." I said.

"Alright," She said calmly leaving.

"May?" I asked.

"What?" She asked turning around.

"You looked worried." She laughed and smacked her head.

"Did I, sorry for worrying you." She said walking off and then letting out a sigh as soon as the door was closed. I was beginning to think she was already used to this partnership.

May has been acting really weird lately, she's a lot different then she use to be but I guess it's a bit of a good change. It would make this partnership work a lot better. I couldn't imagine being teamed up with someone who hated me. I wasn't sure but something told me that May still hated me deep inside; I was just choosing to ignore it now.

The little boy's eyes began to open and he struggled to get up. "I wouldn't recommend that if I were you." I said. "You're weak." He took a book of the table and threw it at me.

"How's that for weak?" He asked crossing his arms and looking out the window.

"I didn't mean to insult you, but you're beaten up very badly, you're weak in a physical sense." He threw another book at mean.

"I know the definition of weak dude, you don't need to define it for me. Stuck up brat." He said staring up.

"You remind me of a girl who I know." He threw another book at me.

"Now you're comparing me to a girl, just great. I'm not a girl, dude." He yelled.

"I'm not blind, I'm saying that you're personality reminds me of her."

"How so?" He asked annoyingly harsh.

"She has a tendency to only listen to part of what I say and judge me on it."

"You're the one who's judging me, dude." He said.

"I most certainly am not. Everything you repeated you made up in your head." I said.

"Mark's deaf idiot, be nice to him." A boy in the background said.

"But he hears…" I started.

"He hears about 5 words of anything everyone says. If you talk to him, it can only be 5 words long, then you stop or he gets confused. He can't distinguish the intonation in your voice, if you're insulting or complimenting you."

"Harsh of him." I said.

"Don't be rude." He said.

"I'm not; it's just if he knows he's deaf he should be more careful to judge others."

"He doesn't know he's deaf." I said.

"Then tell him, it will help him a lot." I walked over to him but stopped myself and walked out of the room.

"What?" He asked.

"You can take care of him yourself, I've got training. I've got no time to deal with a deaf who denies his disability and his friend." I said walking out.

"Stop!" Yelled the kid in the chair.

I turned around "Yes?" I asked.

"I want to challenge you." He said.

"I'm not interested." I said trying not to continue on as if I wanted to say 'I'm not interested in fighting with two people who wish to prove their worth to me, I've got training.' That's what I wanted to say but I didn't want to say much more.

"Why, cause I'm hospitalized?" The deaf boy asked.

"I've got to train." I said walking out the door.

The other boy ran to me and stopped in front of me. "We want to challenge you."

"Two on one isn't exactly fair, plus, I'm not interested. Are you deaf as well?" I asked.

"Don't you have a partner?" He asked.

"Yeah but she's not the one to take any challenge given to her, especially one who she can pity." I said. "Can I go now?" I asked.

"No, I'm making it an official challenge with the council." He said.

"Council?"

"The three judges that judge at contests, any trainer around here is a coordinator, no trainers and they can challenge you and your partner to a battle and if you deny them, they take your ribbon. It's a ribbon challenge." He said.

"Interesting, when this council comes, I'd be happy to deal with you. But until then I've got to practice." He smiled.

"You'll be in trouble if you didn't." I smiled.

"Don't get cocky." I warned and walked off.

∆(Practice Field)∆ 

"What took them so long?" May asked.

"We've got a challenger?" I said.

"Who?" She asked quite annoyed.

"A deaf crippled boy and his partner; a challenge is for a ribbon."

"They can do that?" I asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"I don't remember that in the rules." She said.

"Neither do I but I asked Nurse Joy and she said to quote her 'of course they do, what if you won by a fluke?' It was an insult to coordinating." I said sitting down and leaning against a tree.

"Honestly I don't care about it." She said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because if we can beat them once, we can beat them twice. Plus, I don't want to be seen as a weakling who turns down challenges." May said.

"Whatever, but it turns out that only those who participated in the contest the first time are allowed to challenge us the second time. Apparently these two were beaten the first round."

"What's the point of their reasoning?"

"I'm not sure, I think it's because they were taken out by people who weren't the winners."

"But we beat the people who could beat the people who beat then, why wouldn't we be strong enough? Why challenge us?"

"To prove how brave they are, most likely." I said.

"Bravery is a test of courage, but they had the courage to be in the contest, what would make them challenge us now?"

"Because they are injured and incapable if they could before we even got time to practice again, that would show they're greatness."

"Tricking us more likely," She said.

"True, they think they're out smarting us but we figured it out." I said.

"Yeah but let's get back to practice." She said.

"Whatever," I said. We were working on hers and mine aerial attacks.

"I have an idea, a double aerial ace."

"That would be interesting, but would we have room."

"You can adjust it to whatever size the playing field is or room for that matter, we should." I said.

"Alright, let's go Beautifly!" I yelled. "Straight up, now straight down, flat and now." My flipped and landed on Beautifly winds as they soared across the yard.

"Am I too heavy Beautifly?" May asked looking at her.

"Beautifly,"

"Good, here's the plan, u sore up on stage and make a loop using aerial ace but while doing aerial ace to release gust powder into the air then we jump into the center of the continuous loop and jump on and leave stage with both of us doing that, it should be superb, don't you think?" May ask me.

"It sounds great, grade A. Can we do it though?" I asked her.

"Who's to say we shouldn't try now?" I asked. "Go!" I yelled, Beautifly and Butterfree made two loops and released them into the air, May pulled me behind where the loops were being performed. "1,2,3…Jump!" She yelled and we jumped onto our respective pokémon. I was loosing my balance but May grabbed my arm and steadied me and we floated off stage just as magnificently as May had done in the practice one.

"That was perfect." She laughed.

"One mistake," She said.

"What?" I asked.

"You're balance. I can't save you during our performance." She said smiling smartly.

"Fine, how do you aim to improve my balance?" I asked.

"Come and you'll find out." She said. I followed her to a river and there was a large thin tree crossing it. There was also a post on the side of it.

"This is clearly the most outrageous thing you've thought out yet." I said.

"I know but it'll work, I promise."

"I'm quite confident that it will too but how do you expect to help me." She jumped into the small podium in the middle of the river.

"If you fall in, I'll be there to save you. Just do it." She said.

"Fine." I said. I took off my shoes to better my grip on the tree.

"Loosen up," She said. "You need to be flexible, relax and graceful." I raised my eyebrow at her.

"What do you think I am, a girl?"

"Who are natural more graceful dancers, females or males?" She asked.

"Females, obviously." I answered.

"Then who knows what she's doing." May asked.

"I haven't seen you dance before. Care to show me." She turned around on her toes and stared at the waterfall.

"Sure, we'll go dancing one night." I said. "How about tonight while we're in town?" I asked.

"What?" I asked.

She turned around on her toes just as perfectly as before. "You said you wanted me to show you, so we're going dancing so I can show you my skills. Coordination is all about flaunting a pokémon's natural beauty and grace. That's what dancing is and that's why most guys can't handle coordinating as we do back home, only a few really coordinated coordinators can."

"Like me?" I asked.

"I guess, but you still lack the grace." She said. She hopped over to my side and jumped and hoped around me like a dance, and I was amazed and then I slipped. "Drew!" She yelled. She dropped her weight to the log and leaned into the water and grabbed me by my waist and pulled me up.

"Thanks," I said.

"Don't worry about it, but we have more work to do." She said.

"So what were you saying about flaunting natural beauty?" I asked.

"Girls aren't respected so they use this skill to trick guys into buying into whatever we do. We can make any basic thing we do into a dance of sorts, a graceful performance."

"I'd like to see that."

"Haven't you ever watched a fashion show?" She asked.

"No,"

"Good, cause neither have I but I heard that they have no grace so that was a horrible example. Stand there," She said pointing to the end of the log.

I stood there as she mounted the log with one leg on either side of the log as if she was a gymnast. I guess that's what she was trying to do, be a gymnast. "Watch." She said again smiling. She tossed her jacket to the side and her bandana as well as her basket of pokémon balls and released them all into the air and danced around on the log with all of her pokémon joining in. I had seen this before. She was jumping around and all the pokémon added their natural talents to make her basic tricks more appealing, beautiful. It was more beautiful then her performances. She was too.

She walked over to me and sat on the edge of the log. "How was I?" She asked. "I'm sure it wasn't as good as it could be but a few years of practice missing since I started coordinating but I'm still good. So?" She asked.

"It's was… great." I said.

She blushed and smiled. "Thanks Drew, so you understand what I'm saying now?" I nodded. "You try."

"I don't think I'm capable of such acts." I said.

"Let's get down the jump first." I sighed and nodded.

"Fine." I said.

"Push of with your right, led with your left, and brought them together and use equal weight on both of them. I had tried and she had sat on the little Pedestal thing to the left to grab me if I feel which hadn't happened since that last time but she was watching intently. I was still wet from the first time, so I had to be careful not to fall.

I had learned how to jump after a lot of practice but that was only from the log to the ground, I hadn't tried it the opposite way. "How was that?" I asked.

"I guess it was okay, you're still pushing all your weight into coming down hard, you'll kill Butterfree if you try that. Light Drew, light." She wasn't making it easy and, it was complicated.

"Why don't we go?" I asked.

"To the dance yeah, but I have to get on a dress, and buy one first, I'll meet you back at the pokémon center. Bye." She said running off. She seemed quite anxious to stop training me and go buy a dress. Come to think of it, I better get something to wear.

I bought something nice to wear and then I waited for her, a while later. 20 minutes, she showed up. In addition, I don't think that I had ever been more surprised then that moment. "Nice huh?" She asked. "Well say something." She said sighing.

I couldn't really, and if I could she took the only thing I could say, and I wanted to tell my mind that. Well say something. I took a deep breath. I also had the need to be quite polite. My mind was still fighting to tell me that I didn't like her, and she's just a girl. However, it was fighting not to let her know which neither side of me wanted to deal with. "You look… beautiful. Ready?" I asked.

"Yeah." She said as we walked to the dance hall. I didn't feel like thinking about what she was wearing in fear of blushing or blowing everything to her. I think I could now. She was wearing a pink tank top and a white skirt that went to her knees and her hair was actually down for once and she was wearing pink flip-flops.

We arrived at the dancing place and there were surprisingly a lot of people here. "Ah bonjour, your names? I'm Marie." A girl asked.

"I'm May, and this is Drew."

"Nice to meet you, this is my date Martin, how are you?" She asked.

"I'm fine thanks, you're coordinators, yes?" I nodded.

"Yeah we are, are you?" May asked, the girl nodded.

"Would you like a match?" He asked.

"Nah, we're here to relax before our next contest, and I have to show him a few tricks of mine." The girl laughed.

"Me too, he is not graceful to the least."

"Drew is fair, just not where we need to be for the next stunt."

"Understandable, well let's show them up as you say." She said pointing to the dance floor and the girls pulled me as well as Martin out.

I had to admit, these two girls were the best and most graceful dancers that I had met anywhere. They had talent but May had a unique style while this other girl, Marie was traditional but that's May for you, unique.

May and Marie danced alongside Martin and I the whole night. May enjoyed dancing with me apparently since she stated it six or seven times throughout the night. Then it was the last song, which was of course slow, which was different from the others, and I had a bad feeling about this. "You slow dance Drew?" I shrugged and offered May my hand. I hadn't learned much from my mom but when I was in school, a prep school of sorts.

"I might have learned during my earlier years." I said to her. I looked at her and she just gave me a smile saying that it was all right to invade her personal space and I placed my hands on her waist. She leaned toward me and put her arms around my neck, which was weirdly comforting.

The song was quite long and by the end of it May was resting her head on my shoulder which was very weird and made me uncomfortable but I didn't want to wake her up after all she had done so much today, she should be able to rest.

The doors burst open and two-team rocket members stepped in. "The girl," They pointed to May. I didn't know what they wanted with May but I knew this wasn't good. I tossed a pokéball from my pocket into the air.

"Rosélia, solar beam." I commanded while holding May in my arms to my body. I leaned down to the ground and picked her up by her neck and back and ran back to the Pokémon center as Rosélia followed. I set May in my room and sat in a chair watching her to make sure she wasn't kidnapped.

¤(Morning)¤

"Huh, morning again?" She asked. She looked at her self and jumped.

"Calm it May, you're lucky I saved you. Team Rocket came to get you so I watched you all night, to make sure they didn't take you." She smiled.

"Thank you Drew," she said hugging me and we both didn't let go afraid to let the other see that we were blushing.

"Rosélia!" Rosélia yelled bursting in.

"What is it Rosélia?" I asked.

"Rosélia!" She said.

"Alright, pack up May, we have to go, next city is the pokémon contest and we'll have a day to practice, okay?"

"Alright," She said and stood up.

I came out and she was back into her normal outfit and we walked off. "You have everything?" I asked.

"Of course," She said smiling. We walked on the road and by nightfall, we'd arrive at the pokémon center and stay there until the pokémon contest.

¤(Next Morning)¤

May and I as normal, had gotten two rooms so I knocked on her door and she was looking out the window. "Something interesting out there?" I asked.

"No," She said. "Just a beautiful day." She said.

"Alright, let's get ready to go practice." I said.

"Yeah, all right." She said. I closed the door behind me and left her to change for the day and then came out. "Ready to prefect that trick?" She asked.

"Yeah, after dancing with you all night, I think I can handle that trick." She smiled.

"Good, because that will prove to be perfect, but we're going to have to go with two different pokémon for the battle rounds, which ones?"

"Rosélia and Cumbusken," I said.

"But being two opposite types isn't easy to turn them on one another."

"It's as easy as it is to turn both of our pokémon on us."

"But…"

"Don't worry, they're both well trained, it's a strategy of mine. Let's first worry about that little trick of yours." I nodded and we let our pokémon out.

"Signals?" He asked.

"Of course, when we're ready we put our arm straight up and make a circle with it, run out and run back and then jump on. Remember everything?" She asked.

"Yeah," She smiled and held her arm saying she and Beautify were ready, I raised mine, and we counted to 3 and made the circle and continued and jumped. I made it perfectly thanks to her, and she smiled and she sparkled in the dust as we went of stage. The two-butterfly pokémon flew back in and thanks to coordination by May did spins up into the sky together and then Beautifly continued to spin and Butterfree went down the center releasing Psy-beam that multicolored the spinning whirlwind. Then Beautifly escaped it and they went behind it and hit a major gust sending all the glitter and Psy-beam and gust into the 'audience'.

May looked around as if she was waiting for someone or something. "Who you looking for?" I asked.

"Nothing, no one." She said in remorse.

"Whatever but I think you should share this with me."

"Trust me; they're not coming, ever. That would be impossible." She said giving me a smile that seemed truthful yet remorseful.

Every time she and I accomplished something, she'd turn around crazily and then fall to the ground and sigh. Whom in the world was she waiting for, who else watched her create her routines besides me? It didn't make sense. Whom was she waiting for?

"Are you alright, you seem to be loosing your concentration again." I said sitting next to her.

"I'm waiting."

"I noticed. What are you waiting for?" I asked.

"Someone." She said sadly.

"Who?"

"It doesn't matter because they can't come, ever, it's impossible. In addition, I'm happy. If I don't stop in a few hours, smack me, alright?" He asked.

"No, if you don't stop. You're going to explain to me what's going in that crazy brain of yours, fair?" He asked.

"Fine, but trust me, you won't like my answer. You won't like it as much as I will." She said.

May has been acting weirder then she normally does. What I use to think was weird for her, is seemingly normal to everyone but this is unusual. She does something that it quite and accomplishment. She turns around and looks around frantically, like looking for a cheerleader to compliment her or something. The only point is that she'd never had one, and never will. What is she waiting for?

It's probably Ash, Max and Brock's compliments. However, she says it's something that's extremely impossible, they may be far away but they could show up for one of our contests, it's possible. She makes it sound like it's physically impossible. It's quite weird.

She continued to do that for a while but I let it go figuring it would help to make her talk about but she was extremely frustrated and I told her to relax she just freaked out more and hit her head on the ground, she's a bit lost now.

She ran through the forest and was now crying, she couldn't take it more. Her Beautifly followed and I waited quietly when I heard her talking to her pokémon. "I'm going insane, aren't I?" She asked.

"Beautifly."

"It's funny how much you'd miss something like that. Something that's always been there, weird huh?"

"Beautifly."

"I know it's impossible to get it back and it's for the best if I don't cause it never helped any but it was good to have, the support and all. Drew…" She said sighing and plunging her head into her knees.

"Beautifly."

"What is it?" She looked around until she spotted me up.

"I'm here so care to tell me what's going on with you?" I asked.

"Rather not but you deserve it, but It'll hurt me. And possibly you."

"Nothing hurts me these days May, don't worry about me. Also, if you don't feel comfortable with telling me, no big deal. I'll find out eventually." I said smirking.

"Really, thank you so much Drew." She said jumping up and hugging me and running off.

I sighed and flipped my hair. "I'm lost, aren't you?" I asked Beautifly.

"Beautifly."

"I know that she's gone crazy but I can't figure out who she's waiting for. I have this crazy sense that she's waiting for me to make the first move. But I don't think she's ready."

"Beautifly."

"I guess you're right, she did make the first move. I guess then I'll take the main step. I guess that's all I can do for now, right?" I asked.

"Beautifly!" She said.

"Come on," I said walking off. "May!" I called.

She was doing a gymnastics routine she did two cartwheels then a black handspring to a back flip and landed on a wooden post. I walked out and clapped and smiled. "That was amazing. I see where you get your beautiful coordination skills from." I said.

She blushed and smiled. That was the best smile I've gotten from her all day. I don't know why but I had a suspicion that I was right with my first assumption that without Max, Ash and Brock it was my job to keep her confidence up with compliments. I guess I could handle complimenting her until she gets her own confidence.

"Thanks Drew, that's just what I needed." She said hugging me and was just resting her body against mine.

"If you wanted a compliment you could have just asked instead of going crazy." I said.

"What was I supposed to say?" She asked.

"What do you think of my routine?" I answered her. She smacked her head but kept her face buried in my shoulder, which now, oddly enough, I had been accustomed to and I was comfortable with her.


	5. ◊ Further Attack ◊

**◊ (5: Further Attacks) ◊ **

Φ (May) Φ 

"I guess I could have said that." I answered and rested my body next to his.

"Is that what you were waiting for?" He asked.

"Not exactly, but sort of." I answered.

"You going to tell me what you were waiting for or not?" He asked.

"I guess I could." I took a second to take a deep breath. "Well usually when I'm perfecting a new move that I'm going to use in a contest you show up out of no where, you compliment it, insult me, give me a rose and walk off." He smiled.

He put his hand by back. "You need to be more open to change, there's your advice/compliment I give you." He said smiling.

"Thanks Drew, I'll try that." I responded.

"So you ready to go back to practice?" He asked.

"Yeah," She turned around and walked off. "Come on," I walked over next to her and we trained for a while.

"It's night, let's eat and head to bed, the contest is tomorrow after all." He said.

"Alright, whatever you say." She said smiling and walking away.

We walked into the pokémon center and there was a whole crowd of people clapping now. I leaned of to Drew. "Do you know something I don't?"

"No, I don't know why they're here." I flipped my hair.

"May and Drew, you're back. You received a challenge so you have to head over to the contest stage to prepare for the battle level." He sighed.

"I thought I got away from those two a while ago but whatever." Drew said.

"Who?"

"The hospitalized kid who was deaf and his friend," He answered.

"Oh yeah, well I guess we have to go. Can we eat first though? I'm hungry." Drew sighed and flipped his hair.

"Sure." He said and we went a fancy dinning hall and we sat down. "This good enough for you?"

"I would have been fine with a snack and a hamburger but this is just fine."

"You have to eat healthy to be a good coordinator. You don't feed your pokémon hamburgers do you?" He asked.

"No, Brock sent me the recipe for a special blend of the best nutrients and berries for their individual poke-Block." I answered.

"Oh really, so you never did learn how to make a poke-block?" He asked smirking.

"I can, he taught me but he's a breeder and his is specially blended for perfection for each type."

"I guess that makes sense." Drew said. "Well eat up May," He said now that the food had arrived and placed in front of us. He careful ate through his food while I, well dug through using as many manners as I could as to not embarrass him or get looks from high class people.

After Drew and I had finished eating. Drew, after arguing with me about paying the check, paid it. Then we left. "Thanks for taking me out Drew."

"Do think about it, it's my treat. It's equal playing field anyway."

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, it's a mannerism thing." Mannerism, remind me to look that up later.

On the other hand, I could ask him. "What's a mannerism?" He turned around smiled and flipped his hair.

"If you don't know what they are then you don't have them so you don't have to worry about them. Let's go." He said turning around and walking on. I caught up.

"Okay," I answered.

We walked into the gym and it was completely full, fuller then many of the contests I had seen yet there are no people at the actual contests. "Why weren't there this many people at the contests?" Drew asked.

"I was thinking the same thing, I don't know."

"It's because if we couldn't beat you the first time there's no challenge, the stronger at that point wins but this is to see how much we've improved. They're waiting for you two to fall." The other boy whose name I had forgotten had said.

"What's your name again?" I asked.

"Don't act as though we've met before girl, I never gave you my name in the first place."

"What is it?" Drew stated straight and solid to the boy.

"Henry," He said staring at Drew.

"You're friends name was what again?" Drew asked.

"Mark, stupid." He said.

"What does this ribbon mean to you?" Drew asked. "A ribbon represents a win at a particular time in your life. If you can go back to the people and win then that meant that you're admitting you're too weak to do it then and that's practically cheating." Drew said.

"That ribbon is a 10,000 dollar scholarship to any school I wish this fall when I go back to school. Each one is 10,000 the more the better so once I get 5 with Mark we'll each have a 25,000 scholarship and be able to go to a really nice school." He said.

"You go to school?"

"Of course, didn't you know that's why this contest starts now, in May and goes through September so students can go back to school." He said.

"Oh, back home we didn't go to school past the 6th grade." Drew said flipping his hair.

"Yeah, if you passed and exam at high school level then you could feel free to be a pokémon trainer." I added.

"Well that's not how it is here, we only have basic schooling, and you should go to college to improve yourselves then." He said.

"Maybe I will," Drew said. "How many ribbons all around are there?"

"40 possible ribbons," He said.

"Why do you need this one then?" I asked.

"I can't have a worthless team like you having ribbons and making it to the finals." He said.

"Excuse me." I said walking over to him about to punch him. Drew took a hold of me and pulled me back telling me to control myself.

"How so are we worthless?"

"You show up in our region, enter yourselves in the highest level of contests here without knowing what that entitled and within moments of finding out you create a routine and win. It's unfair."

"Nothing in life is." Drew said smartly.

"No, life is Drew. If I work hard my pokémon will get stronger if I do my best then I'll make it. A contest is the best person and routine winning with the cooperation of their pokémon, we were the best, and we won. It's fair, completely and utterly." I said.

"I guess if you put it that way but I mean we put less effort then him and his partner, how is that fair."

"He worked as 2 as we worked as a 1 and a 1 but by putting our efforts together we made a two and our individual levels that we brought together were just better." I said.

"I don't care about any of your explanations, let's go." He turned to his partner and nodded. "Rhydon and Squirtle, we choose you." They yelled.

"Beautifly, Butterfree, go!" Drew and I yelled.

"Beautifly get ready for an ice beam!" I said.

"Butterfree get positioned." Drew ordered.

"Now!" We yelled and Drew's Butterfree put up a safe guard and Beautifly Ice Beam bounced off the safe guard and increasing in power and hit both of them. Safe Guard was used as a mirror to increase the level and attack strength and range of the ice beam.

"Double Tackle," We yelled now that both pokémon were down on the ground.

"Squirtle, Rhydon, protect." It was too late; they were taken down and slid across the floor.

"Stun Spore!" We ordered.

"No, move." Henry yelled at his pokémon. I watched as the defenseless pokémon were attacked and out.

"You haven't improved any, you should have waited." Drew said walking off as Butterfree settled on his shoulder, Beautifly on my head and we walked off stage.

"Wait!" The deaf kid said, Mark.

"Yes?" Drew asked.

"See you tomorrow; we'll get better by then."

"Do us all a favor and don't." Drew said.

"Huh?" He asked.

"You'll lose, I promise you." Drew said.

"No, we'll win." He said.

"Go back to the minors if you can't keep up." He said.

I stopped Drew. He raised an eyebrow and I walked over to Mark. "You aren't working as a team." I said.

"We try."

"Trying isn't good enough." I paused. "You have to do it."

"But…" I smiled.

"No. Train as a team then… challenges us again." I said. I walked away with Drew and smiled. "You're not very good with most people.

"So, like I need to be." I sighed, same old Drew. Some people you can't change.

"It wouldn't hurt to be more personal with some people."

"Like you?" He asked staring at me.

"Yes like me." He smirked as if he knew it all now. I should really stop talking without thinking about what I'm saying.

"I guess then maybe we should talk more then, huh?" He asked.

"I guess we should." I said.

"Okay, then we'll start talking tomorrow. Good night May." He said smiling walking off.

"Alright, night Drew." I said smiling.

¤ (Morning) ¤ 

I sat down and waited for breakfast to arrive. "Morning May," Drew said smiling.

"Good morning Drew," I said happily.

"How'd you sleep, you look tired." Drew said.

"I slept fine thanks, and you?" He asked.

"Perfect," He said. "So you ready for the contest?"

"Of course, after all that work, why would I be?" I asked.

"Because you are about to fall asleep in your food." He stated.

"I'm fine, really." I said.

He got up and put his hand on my head. He rose and eyebrow. "You have a fever. You need to go back to bed."

"No, I'm fine. I told you. I was fine every other day; I can't just have a fever." I said arguing. It was the truth, I felt fine. Maybe a bit tired. I yawned and rested my head down on the table.

"You're going to sleep until the first round or you're not going in at all." He said. "And I'll take care of getting some medicine."

"Fine." I said standing up and going back to my room to sleep more. I knew as soon as I laid down I'd be dead asleep.

¤ (10 o'clock) ¤ 

I awoke and looked at my clock, 10. I bet I can get up now. I walked into the room and Drew was sitting there watching TV on the contest entries. He turned around. "You're up?"

"Yeah!" I said.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"A lot better," He seemed skeptical of what I said. He put his hand on my head.

"Seems like your fever is gone, I guess we're fine to compete then." I smiled and grabbed my bag and we walked up to the contest building.

"Announcement: All coordinators have one hour to be entered." I jumped up happily.

"All right, let's go." I said pulling Drew to the coordination desk.

"Passes, Papers?" She asked for. I laid Drew's on the desk and mine. "Alright, pokéballs?" I took out my 3 and laid them on the desk. Drew pulled his out of his pocket and put them in the tray as well. "Very good, come back later, you're registered."

"Thank you," I said and happily walked off pulling a slightly annoyed Drew behind me.

"So are we going to use the new technique?" She asked.

"Of course, I don't think using the same one will impress the judges." He said.

"Oh yeah, sorry." I said.

"Whatever, no need to apologize." He said. "Let's go."

We planted our places and they started with the normal thing, the aerial ace which amazed with the audience with its beauty and speed. Then with the specially added Psy-beam and gust which created the beauty we used before. Who said you couldn't you can't use the same trick twice. Oh yeah, Drew.

Then came the jump, we did it but I blacked out and I was falling from a rather great height. I felt myself falling to my doom and then I couldn't see anything but I felt someone catch me, we were still rather far from the ground and this person was strong and we were riding on Beautifly or Butterfree and now we were farther up in the air and the person jumped back on to the stage.

"Beautifly, Butterfree. Spin around and use heal!" Drew said, after setting me in the middle of the stage to be healed.

"Finish up with levitate!" He said. The two pokémon levitated me back into Drew's arms, I snuggled into him, and he walked off stage and set me on a stretcher. "I'll take care of it here May, don't worry." He said after laying me in. How did he even know I was awake?

I was taken to a hospital and put in the emergency. "What happened to her?" A doctor asked.

"I don't know we were competing and she just blanked out and feel." Drew said.

"Well she's on medication she should be fine to be out of here by tonight."

"Alright," He said.

After a while, I felt a little stronger and I decided to open my eyes. "Drew?" I asked.

"Yeah?" He asked leaning against a wall in the room.

"Sorry for messing up." He laughed.

"Stop apologizing, people make mistakes. Just get better and listen to me next time, don't compete when you're sick." I nodded, smiled, and closed my eyes. "Thanks." I said.

"For what?" He asked.

"Saving me and healing me." I said.

"Oh that, yeah, you're welcome." He said, if I had my eyes open he would have done something awkward, and blushed. I knew him that well, and flipped his hair. "You're considerably light, and I didn't want you to get hurt."

"Well thanks, remind me to thank you later."

"But you just…"

- Dream –

I was sitting out in a field of flowers and there was a lot of pokémon out there.

"Wow look at them all!" A little girl said.

"Yeah, they're beautiful aren't they?" I said.

"Um, Hm. Are they yours?" I scanned the field, a Squirtle, an Eevee, a Beautifly, and a lot of other familiar pokémon.

"Yeah, they're my pokémon." I said.

"Can I play with them?" She asked.

"Sure, guys come on in." I called out to them. The little girl played with them for a while. She came to them.

"You're lucky, you've got pokémon. I wish I did. But I live too far away from any pokémon research places to get one." I laughed.

"Just go out into the field and find one you, take care of it and it will be yours forever." I told her.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah," I searched through my bag and found a pokéball. I brought her hand in front of her, opened them up and placed a pokéball in them. "Now you can capture it but you can make your best pokémon by asking if they'd be your pokémon."

"Okay, thanks. But before I go, what's your name?" She asked.

"I'm May Adena." I said.

"That's funny because I met someone who says they're looking for you. They're at my house. They say you were staying around here last time they heard. Come home with me." She took my hand and pulled me around the house to see a leaning against the house.

"Is This her?" The little girl asked pointing to me.

"Thanks Deb." He said pattering her head. She ran inside.

"Hey May, how are you?" He asked. Drew, the same old Drew. He was older and more mature since I last saw him, when we completed all the regions, got our festival cup, and then retired from this business. "You're hard to find, you know that?" I smiled.

Drew was now 20, as was I. We were both retired pokémon coordinators and worked as contest judges sometimes when they needed a guest or something but other than that, we saw neither hide nor tail of each other. He was taller and a lot more handsome then he was 4 years ago.

"Yeah, I didn't really want to be found. I was relaxing and retiring with my pokémon."

"Well you have a lot of friends trying to find you. Max, Ash, Brock, Misty and I have been going crazy trying to find you."

"Really, where are they?"

"They gave up on looking for you, they though you wanted a vacation."

"I do, and did." I said.

"A vacation from your friends, that's not the same May I knew."

"No, I didn't want a vacation from my friends; I just wanted a vacation from the hard life." I said.

"How about you pack up your pokémon and come with me out to dinner?" He asked.

"Sure." I said smiling. I ran back around the house, collected all my pokémon, and ran back to Drew.

"Thanks, so what are we going to do?"

"Have you forgotten the date again?" He asked. "Its 8 years since we met, and your birthday." I started laughing.

"I guess it is, I always forget my birthday, don't I?" I nodded and sighed.

"Happy Birthday." He said hugging me.

- Dream –

"She's in the hospital!" A voice yelled.

"Yeah, May was sick and she tricked me somehow and still competed."

"Poor May, how did it turn out?"

"We scored 30 even with her fall and I saved her because of the gracefulness of all of our movements and attacks most coordinated by her. I took care of her when she fell though." Drew said.

"She's right in there, she's asleep but you can go in and see her."

"Thanks Drew, good thing May decided to travel with you."

"You haven't seen our contests yet, we're partners. You have to have one to be in these contests."

"Really, I guess she didn't know that when we last talked to her." Another voice said.

"Probably, she's been busy lately. But I hope she gets better soon that could have killed her if she wasn't careful." Drew warned the person.

"Yeah, I'm sure it would have by the way you described it." Another voice said.

I opened my eyes and the door opened. "Hi," I said giving a faint smile to the visitors. "Ask, Max and Drew, right?" I asked.

"Yeah sis, it's us." Max said.

"Glad to see you again, May." Ash said.

"You alright?" Brock said stepping in the room.

"Tired but other than that I'm fine. I've felt fine the entire time just tired and then weak now." I said.

"They said it's common when you're suffering nerve damage."

"From what?" I asked.

"They're not sure but they said you have nerve damage." I sighed.

"They know when I'll be fine to do anything?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're getting checked out tonight and going home." He said without a single care.

"What?! You are not taking me home!" I said.

"May, come on now. Max and I came to take you home to make sure you rest up." I sat up and crossed my arms.

"No, I'm here to compete no matter what." I said.

"May, what if it happens again?"

"I don't care Drew, I want to compete, that's what I do, that's what I've always done and nothing is going to change that." I said.

"Fine, let her stay, you can stay for a few days while we travel to the next contest if you get any worst, I'm sending you home got it." I shook my head.

"No, no matter what I'm going out there and competing Drew." I said.

"May, come on listen to Drew. He's trying to do what's best for you." Max begged.

"Do I look like I care?" I said as tears fell down my face.

"May, your health and your pokémon's health come first, before competing. Would you make Beautifly go on with a broken wing?" I asked.

"No, of course not but…"

"There's no difference, your pokémon don't want you hurt either so if I see any signs that you aren't getting better I'm taking you home, right then." I nodded and sighed.

"Please make me better," I said to no one under my breath.

"Good, now sleep, if we want to make it to the contest we'll leave tomorrow morning."

"What about today's?" I asked.

"We got 30, it was perfect. However, we're disqualified for missing the battle rounds but the ribbon winner called earlier and said he challenges us for our ribbon and winner gets both ribbons. He wants to make sure he won his ribbon fairly though you were out and he wants to see if he can take our ribbon from us if not." I smiled.

"Good, so we have a chance." He sighed.

"Yeah we have an extremely large chance, don't worry about your self any." He said sarcastically.

"Okay I won't, thanks for understanding Drew." I said.

"Yeah, whatever May, Just get better." He said walking out.

"I will, thanks Drew." I said.

"May, are you serious about competing?" Ash asked.

"Of course, like they said it's just nerve damage. It's not that serious, is it?" I asked.

"It can be, nerve damage could just mean burning your hand or it could mean not being able to move your arm."

"How serious is mine?"

A doctor walked in. "About in the middle, we left medicine with the boy who just left to repair the damage to the nerves, if you take it then you should be fine to go on with your normal business and they should heal. If you don't then you'll go blind."

"What?" I asked.

"It seems you have a weak nerve connected to your optical senses which is why the hardest thing for you to do is keep your eyes open. You could go blind if not taken care of it. I'd recommend tying something over them so they heal." I nodded and took my bandana and tied it around my eyes. "Good, the more they rest the better you turn out to be and they heal fully and you can use them at full strength again."

"Thanks a lot, I will." I said.

"You're free to leave." He said.

"Thanks." I said standing up and walking toward where I remember the door being.

"Um, miss. I'd recommend having someone lead you." He said.

"Blaizken, come on out." I picked her pokéball out and then put my hand on her. "I need you to guide me around, can you do that."

"Blaze."

"Good, oh wait, how long until they should be healed."

"A month or so, have them checked out then. The reason why you're tired is because the nerves are trying very hard to get a signal through and using up a lot of energy. Sleeping a lot is good if you're going to use your eyes."

"Thanks and bye." I walked along side of Blaizken as she guided me through the halls.

I arrived at my room and sat there staring into the black of my eyelids. "I'd rather be deaf." I said.

"Me too." I voice said. I turned around crazily until I located the source of the voice.

"It's you… Mark right?" I asked.

"Yeah, sorry about your eyes. It's the flamethrower from one of your matches in the preliminaries at your last contest. The flames damaged your eyes; you should be fine in a few days, not how ever long they told you."

"Really?"

"They guessed weeks or whatever because they didn't know how damaged or how it happened but I noticed it so you'll be fine. I wanted to tell you that, bye." He said and probably left about now.

"Anyone there?" I called. I went over to where the door was and called out Eevee to help me go to sleep by finding my clothes and other small things. I fell asleep and hoped to have a better next few days.


	6. ◊ Hardly a Challenge ◊

◊ (Hardly a Challenge) ◊ 

∆ (Drew's Room) ∆ - Φ Drew Φ - ¤ (Morning) ¤ 

I had expected May to want to go home; instead, she wanted to continue her journey. Honestly, I didn't think it was a good idea. However, I respect her desire to be a good coordinator alongside me. She's a respectable person. She's currently blind, how good of a team can we be? I'm not sure but compared to some people I think we're going to be hardly a challenge.

I remember everything that happened last night as if it happened a long time ago. Though I know it didn't but the whole purpose that her blindness will do is… well I'm not completely sure. However, I'm sure I'll stumble upon it soon.

I got dressed and grabbed my pokéballs. I'm not sure the reason why but I'm sure they'll come in handy. I'm exactly sure that we'll be training for a while, with May's condition and all. Yet again, knowing May, nothing is going to stop her. So, we most likely will anyway.

I walked over to May's room and knocked on her door. "May, it's Drew." I said since she was probably still in her bed and trying to get up in such. To save her the time of asking.

"I'll be out in a second." She called back. She opened the door and took a step forward, tripped over the doorstep and came crashing into me which I supported myself on the wall in the hallway and caught her. "Sorry Drew that is you right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Here let me help you." I helped her to her feet so she was standing up straight. I looked at her. She seemed to be dressed fine, nothing abnormal or anything.

"Well I got to go, bye." She said running off but I grabbed her arm and pulled her against the wall. "What was that for?" She asked angrily.

"You're blind; it's not a good idea to go running around a building that's full of people. Then go running around a city by yourself." I stated.

"Fine. Then you're going to take me to the gym here. The gym leader left me a message on the phone that he could train me to better use my senses until they're back to health that way I won't need to use my eyes if I do go blind."

"Fine, I'll take you wherever you need to go today. I'll be your personal escort."

"Really? Thanks Drew." She hugged me. It's a good thing she's blind.

"You're welcome May, now let's get going." I said.

"Um Drew, not to contradict your methods but you're going to have to guide me a bit better."

"Oh, sorry." I said. I took her hand and she followed by my side. She had no clue what was going on around her today. There is a huge contest going down in this city, and she doesn't know.

"There are a lot of people out today. What's going on today Drew?" She asked.

"There's a contest here tomorrow so everyone is excited. They only get to host the contest every 3 years."

"Really, then I have to get better soon, huh?" She said.

"Don't rush yourself May; you'll only do more damage to yourself." I said.

"But with this training I won't need my eyes. He also said that I should be able to compete better than ever with this training because I'll be able to sense more of the attacks before they come and such."

"Depending on what the gym leaders says about how far you can go, I'll make a decision on if we are able to enter or not."

"Why is it your choice?" She asked.

"Because honestly May, you're stubborn. If you were in a coma, you'd want to compete. If you're not able to compete, then we won't even try. It would be a useless attempt."

"Then I'll just have to show you that I can do it blind or not." May said.

"I hope you can, because we also have that challenge from the other trainers who won the ribbon so that would give us three, which more then half way is done." I said.

"Don't doubt me Drew, you know my skills. You know I can do anything I set my mind to, and this is no different." May said.

"We're here." I said knocking on the gym doors.

"You must be Miss. May, and who is this here with you?" He asked.

"Who? Oh, you mean Drew. This is my friend and training partner Drew." She said smiling.

"Alright, you two may come in, the master will be with you soon." May nodded.

"I wouldn't know when he enters though." She said sighing.

"Don't be too negative; try to be positive like normal. Focusing on the negatives doesn't help training like this at all."

"How do you know, you've done this stuff before?"

"When I was younger my parents, among many other activities taught us to be in tune with our surroundings and especially our pokémon. There are sudden changes that happen within a pokémon and around you that hint of their attacks, movements and other things like that." A man appeared at the top of the balcony.

"Very good, so you've been taught this way. This is good, I'd like to see how a match between us would do but first we must tend to your partner, May here. She's the one who truly needs the skill." He said.

"Alright then, how do you plan to teach her the method?"

"We start like you would with any skill the basics. And you're going to help me." I shrugged.

"May, everything anyone does, a simple movement makes a sound, it's how in tuned or out tuned you are. In tuned is tuning into yourself and your pokémon. Out tuned means focusing on someone else and their pokémon. I want you to walk around the gym and listen for your own footsteps also let one of your pokémon out so you can listen to them too."

"Alright, Squirtle, come on out." She called.

"Do you have any advice for her… sorry, I forgot to ask your name?"

"It's Drew. The only advice I have for you May is to listen start listening to the sounds that your body makes, the sound of your heart, your footsteps, yourself breathing, and sometimes you pulse. The more of those things you can hear the better."

"Alright Drew, and what's your name again?" May asked.

"Dave, but go ahead."

May walked around and focused less on her eyes. Moreover, where everything was and her natural sounds. "I've got it!" She said. "I can sense my pulse and heart beat. I also can hear my footsteps and my breathing."

"Good now focus on your pokémon." She nodded and sat down on the ground. Eevee continued to walk around May in circles.

"Eevee stop!" May said. She pointed right at where Eevee was. "How'd I do?" I smirked.

"Perfect May, now Drew get out your pokémon and you two walk around too, May do the same." He said. We all walked around careful not to crash into May and then we all stopped. "May, point to where everyone is."

"Eevee is there." She said pointing to Eevee. "Drew is there and Rosélia is there." She correctly labeled where everyone was.

"How did you know that it was Rosélia?"

"Well it was obvious you only have Butterfree and Rosélia and Butterfree flies so I wouldn't hear any sounds, so it had to be Rosélia. It's also your favorite pokémon." I smirked, not that she could see.

"Good job, I'm impressed how easily you picked this up." I said. "It took me a few hours to pick up on this."

"It's because she can't use her eyes. When someone who has the natural ability they tend to be use to using it so they have troubles but she's been relying on her other senses for a while naturally so she's better at it then someone who hasn't done it before would be."

"Makes sense but the newer stuff is harder even for someone who is blind."

"Of course, this training isn't the easiest thing. May think about the most noticeable sounds that Rosélia's attacks would have."

"Well Rosélia has light footsteps and I can feel the gust between her movements with her leafs so if I was able to feel that before she attacks and I know where my pokémon is, then I could make a move." I smirked. She's doing a lot better then expected. I'm sure she's caught these things before we've been rivals before we became partners.

"That's good May, so what about your own pokémon?" Dave asked.

"During Cumbusken's attacks the air becomes hotter before it launches its attacks. Beautifly flaps its wings before its attacks so I can find its positions that way and the attacks make light sounds."

"Actually there is one problem with our theory," I interrupted.

"What would that be?" May asked.

"Contests aren't going to be as quite as a three person room; they have fans, announcers, and many other people and commands being given. She won't be able to listen for these small changes." I said.

"That's right, what am I supposed to do." She said sinking to the floor. I smirked. I guess it can't be helped.

"Then you'll just have to rely on my senses. After all, we are partners. After all, I told you that if he said you are able to get the method down, then I'd decide to sign us up."

"Really Drew, thank you so much." May said. I wish you'd stop that because I'm blushing. Are you even conscious that you're blushing and I'm not blind? Do you even care?

"Alright, okay but what are we going to enter in there?"

"Man, I didn't think about that. I can't think of anything." She said slumping to the ground. She gets down very easily without her eyes.

"I don't have any ideas either, except that we won't be able to use Butterfree and Beautifly because you can't sense their positions."

"Then who?"

"Cumbusken and Rosélia, they're our only choices." May nodded and thought about it.

"How about for the show a combination of fire spin, fire ball, razor leaf and petal dance?"

"A combination of fire and grass, unusual, exotic, different. That sounds perfect." I said.

"Good, then there we have our plan, now to put it into action before tomorrow." She said.

"You may want to work on it here, since this gym is fire proof unlike fields." Dave said.

"Thanks a lot, I never thought to ask." May said.

"You're welcome, I have some paperwork enjoy your practice." We nodded and I helped May to her feet.

"What we'll have to watch out for is that if you point out too many of the points it won't be seen as teamwork." She said.

"Or because you're blind, it may all be considered as teamwork." I said. "After all what better teamwork is it to help your partner who lost her sight?" I asked.

"I guess that's right but I'm still going to try my hardest to focus and help out." I nodded. "What you need to work on is not nodding in response to things because I can't see you nod Drew." She yelled and pouted.

"Sorry I'm so use to just nodding, yeah. That should work." I said.

"Alright, so let's try how just doing a combination of petal dance and fire spin turn out together. They should blend together if both directed at the same place."

"Alright, Cumbusken, come on out." She called. She turned around and tried to listen for Cumbusken. "Where is it?" She asked.

I sighed and walked over to her. "Beautifly return," I called holding May's pokéball out.

"I grabbed the wrong pokéball didn't I?"

"Yeah, here." I place Cumbusken's pokéball into her hand. If the first one was Beautifly, the second would have to be Cumbusken or Eevee but I knee that Eevee was already out and she wouldn't have grabbed and empty pokéball. She also had Squirtle's pokéball but I had no clue but I knew which one was which.

"Cumbusken, come on out." She called.

"Cumbusken!"

"Alright Cumbusken, I need you to aim fire spin where ever Drew points to, when he says go, I want you to attack. Alright?"

"Cumbusken!"

"Alright, that's teamwork." She said happily. "Ready Drew."

"Yeah, Fire Spin, Petal Dance, there." I said pointing at a particular spot on the ceiling. "Not good." I said simply. The leaves were a little two close to the fire spin, it would work in the open air of this contest field but not in this gym, it was too small compared to other gyms.

"What's going on, it's really hot in here."

"Don't worry a little mistake." I said calmly. "Cumbusken, take May outside. May hand me Squirtle's pokéball and Rosélia follow the others out."

"Drew, what's going on?"

"Don't worry May, it's just a minor accident." The ceilings and walls are fireproof but this floor isn't, it's fake, the descending petals on fire have set it on fire.

"Squirtle, come on out for me." I said.

"Squirtle!" It said freaking out about the fire.

"I need you to use water gun to put out the fire." Squirtle obeyed understanding what was going on and the fire was put out but I returned it to it's pokéball but the smoke had gotten into my lungs. I couldn't breath.

"Beautifly, use gust." I heard a voice say. May, of course. For once in my life, I'll thank her for not listening to me. "Drew, Drew!" She called. Man, I coughed and she must have heard because she was coming this way. She helped me to my feet and we went out of the building.

"Are you two alright, you're timing was a bit off. When using combination attacks you always go one after another, that way you can set the timing."

"I forgot about that, I should have waited for you to start then have Cumbusken start, sorry Drew." May said.

"I should have know too May, I endangered both of us."

"Also, don't ever save me again leaving you in danger, hear me!" She yelled. "I didn't know what was going on, and I can't see anything. I thought you were dying or something. I smelled the fire and I heard you coughing and I knew I had to help."

"Sorry about that," I opened her hands and placed Squirtle's pokéball in her hand. "He's safe and sound for you May." I said resting against a wall.

"You should worry about yourself sometime Drew; you could have suffocated and died." She said genuinely worried. This was new. She seemed scared as well. I guess that she would miss me if I died. It's good to know that if I die she won't be the one throwing my party.

"It's nice that you care about me and all but hey, at that time, it was more important to save you and take care of the building then to worry about me suffocating." She punched me hard and she hit my arm dead on.

"I care about you because…. Well… we're really really good friends and I don't want anything to happen to you. It wouldn't do any good to get me out of a building anyway because without my pokémon I'd fall down and die anyway. So next time, yeah. Do me a favor and think it through a little more."

"How about we just are more careful with training?" I asked.

"That works." She said smiling. I had a weird sense that she wanted to say more and so did I. Yet again, I didn't like to think beyond what I said because I could wonder about the meanings for hours. Moreover, I will anyway tonight.

I thought for sure that I saw tears coming out of May's eyes. Yet again, she did have a bandana over them so they could be irritated because of the ash and dust or something. However, some how, I didn't think so. She was genuinely concerned and cared as I said before. She was also worried and scared. Yet, I knew that pointing out how May is feeling is a sure fire way to get slapped.

"Can we try that one more time?" May asked.

"Are you sure we're ready to try that?"

"I, no matter what you say am not giving up, we need a routine and this is all we have for tomorrow so it's going to have to work, got it?"

"Alright, I get your point." I said. I positioned myself a few feet away from her.

"Alright Cumbusken this time only pay attention to where Drew points, I'll tell you when to attack, alright?"

"Cumbusken!"

"Good, Drew ready, everything lined up and such."

"Yeah, Rosélia, Petal Dance." 1, 2, 3.

"Cumbusken, Fire Spin." She called. 1, 2, 3.

"Rosélia, Razor Blade." 1, 2, 3.

"Cumbusken, Fire Ball." 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

"Stop." We both yelled and all the attacks formed together into a tornado and fell to the ground.

"How'd it turn out?" She asked.

"Perfect, nothing less, but a lot more."

"That's great. That means we can compete." She said running over to me and tackling me to the ground.

"You're over excited. We've created routines many times before. What's so great about this one?"

"I don't know. I'm blind and I'm relying on you and it's just making this seem even more miraculous because usually I don't rely on many people but now I'm seeing its okay."

"That's something I recently learned as well and it is quite amazing." She was smiling but she didn't see how idiotic she looked laying on top of me and smiling.

"You mind getting off, I can't breath." She climbed off of me and lay on the ground next to me.

"I guess that being blind isn't the worst thing that could have happened to me. I'm sure losing an arm or a leg would be much worst but yet again there are things I'd miss seeing if I was blind." She murmured.

"Like what?" I asked curious as to what was going through her mind.

"My parents, Max, Ash, May, Brock, my pokémon, contests especially. Contests and pokémon battles are things you really can't enjoy without eyes. You could hear sounds, know where the pokémon are but a contest round would have no meaning if everyone was blind, you know?' She asked.

"Yeah I know, I mean contests are all about beauty of showing pokémon off. If you're blind how could you truly appreciate that?"

"You couldn't and that's my point. I know I won't be able to enjoy the contests much, I also won't know who made it to the final rounds, to be able to myself or your smirking, hair-flipping, lack of interested face. I'm especially going to miss your faces." I laughed, that made the littlest amount of sense she'd said all day.

"You're acting weird again May." I warned her.

"I don't think if I was born blind I could be a coordinator because I wouldn't know what beauty is so I couldn't show you what I thought it was. I guess you could be a coordinator and be blind but you wouldn't really know what your pokémon looked like or their attacks looked like. It would really be a waste of a lifetime."

"You're getting yourself down again May, think about positive things."

"Your face when I beat you at that contest all those years ago. That was positive. That was a unique face, but I don't get to see it anymore not because I lost my sight for the time being, but because I enjoy being your partner so much more." She said smiling.

I smirked, not that she could it but I did. "You're really good yourself May, and it's always been a pleasure seeing you. And it's pleasure training with you."

"Thanks Drew." She broke out laughing which didn't make sense. "I had the craziest thought ever."

"I'd like to hear this."

"No way, I'm not telling you." She answered me.

"Fine, whatever May." I answered. She stood up and ran off but I caught her arm. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm running somewhere." I sighed.

"You know how only stupid people remind the blind that they're blind because it's rude and arrogant."

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Well I'm reminding you because you seem to forget a lot. You're blind so running off to some random place isn't smart. You could walk off a cliff, walk into the ocean, walk into someone, get yourself attacked, and get yourself kidnapped or a lot of things. You're the one who's being stupid."

"Fine then," She gave a yank at my arm and pulled me to my feet. "Recall all your pokémon; I want a tour of the city." May, you're blind. You can't see the city.

"That's a useless thing but whatever, how about lunch?"

"That sounds even better." May said.

"Good." I said taking her hand after recalling my pokémon and guiding her through the city into a restaurant that served foods that are more normal so May wouldn't have to think about what she wanted. "This place has the normal traditional stuff as well as anything fancy if you feel like it."

"Alright, I'll just have a hamburger and French fries." I nodded.

The waitress came by and asked us to order. "I'll have a steak and salad and she'll have a hamburger and French fries."

"Alright then, be back soon." She said.

"So, do you think we should go to that college, to improve out knowledge and intelligence?" She asked.

"Why don't we take the exam because all pokémon trainers already have advanced schooling? I don't think it's necessary but it would be smart to see where we place though." I said.

"Alright, then we'll take the test to see how smart we are." She said. I nodded and we did a little more perfecting of our show, and then I guided her to her room, handed her, her clothes and left her to go to my room.

¤ (Morning) ¤

I woke up and walked over to May's room. I knocked on her door. "Come in Drew, I'm ready." She said. I walked in and saw that she was sitting and watching the TV, well listening actually. "This contest really is a big thing."

"Yeah, they won't have one for 3 more years and it's a major city so there are people coming from all over to see it. It's huge." I said.

"Then we'll just have to show them that we're not to be messed with either." She said smiling.

"Yeah." I answered, trying hard to remember that I couldn't nod.

We walked up to the sign in desk. "Morning, I'm Nurse Joy of this here fine city. How may I help you?"

"We're signing up for the contest." May said.

"Alright, do you have a ribbon?" She asked. I nodded and held our ribbon up to her. "Very good, since this contest is so big we have to limit it by having one ribbon to start. Paperwork and Pokémon." I handed her our paperwork, we both gave her our pokémon, and we went inside. The place was already packed.

"Excuse me, I'm done. You can report, you're up in 10 minutes." May jumped.

"Already?" May asked.

"Since there are so many we have to start early, so be prepared." I nodded and took May's hand and guided her to the back stage after collecting all our stuff.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Of course, this is no different from any other contest except I'm blind and it's earlier in the morning, that shouldn't effect our pokémon should it?"

"No, since the sun's up this open stage should increase their ability not decreases it by any. We're fine." He said.

"And open stage should observe the extra sounds so that should improve my hearing, right?"

"It should but don't trust your ears too much or we could be in danger."

"Alright everyone, next up we have top coordinators who have competed every where there has been a contest and now they're showing us here so give them a big hand. We have Drew Kito and May Adena. They've competed in the last two contests here, one their first and didn't show up for the matches of the seconds, after May lost her sight but they're back and gracing us with their presence and teamwork even after an accident." I walked out onto stage and May listened to my footsteps and followed me.

"May, I want you to turn left take 5 steps and stop and then bring out Cumbusken." I handed her the right pokéball and she nodded and took her steps as I went to the opposite stage.

"Cumbusken, Rosélia, take the stage!" We called and they showed up.

"Rosélia… petal dance there." I pointed at a spot in the air. 1, 2, 3.

"Cumbusken, same place, Fire Spin." 1, 2, 3.

"Rosélia… razor leaf." 1, 2, 3.

"Cumbusken, fire ball." 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

"Stop!" We both yelled and the attacks came colliding together.

"Drew?" May said, to me quietly.

"I've got it this time." I said. "Rosélia take center stage."

"You too Cumbusken." I nodded not that she could see but I did. I walked toward center stage quickly. May caught on and came to center stage as well.

"Rosélia, protect!" I said.

"Cumbusken, just up into the air and use enhance." I've never seen or heard her use that before but I trusted her reasoning. Cumbusken used the shield to jump higher into the air and absorb the heat leaving a beautiful display to fall to the ground around the shield.

"Rosélia, leaf whirlwind."

"Cumbusken, spin, now!" They both began spinning into a huge tornado.

"Stop!" We yelled and all the stuff that we had brought together fell sparkling to the ground. We all bowed and I walked off stage toward May and took her hand and led her over to the judges since everyone was clapping she couldn't hear. Our pokémon followed us.

"I'd have to say that for a girl that has gone blind to be able to still compete is a task in hand but to be able to not be guided through everything and how you started out with something you had prepared and added newer things to it to enhance the beauty, it was great. 10." Mrs. Contesta said.

"I thought we were in trouble for a second there. May seemed lost to what was going on but Drew you kept everything continuing as well as keep up with helping her through it. It was the most extraordinary use of teamwork I've ever seen. I was surprised to see a change in pokémon it was so she could hear their movements correct?" I nodded. "I thought so, it was wonderful how you adjusted everything to compete further and work together. A 10 for sure." Nurse Joy said.

"There isn't much more to say, you had the style, pazaz and an originality I've never seen, grass and fire together is dangerous and you seemed to have figured out what to do if all didn't work out perfectly and added it on. I could take off points because I knew you made it up as you went but many people do as you're are still coordinating movements and moves with the pokémon and yourselves, I see it perfect and worth of a 10." May hugged me and I blushed and looked at her.

"Good job." Everyone said and I took May's hand and led her off stage. Everyone was still clapping at our excellent performance.

"Drew, May, how wonderful to see you both." May jumped behind me and I sighed.

"May what's wrong you seemed to be acting a little stranger then normal." Our favorite rival, Harvey said.

"May is blind." I said plainly.

"Really that's horrible May; well I have to go on. This is a big contest after all." He said.

May sighed loudly and walked around front of me. "He really was here, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he was." I answered her.

"Great." May said.

"Don't worry, he can't get to you this time, after 3 or 4 times of being tricked I'm sure you understand he's bad, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. Thanks Drew." She smiled and I guided her back around the stage to the back room where we wait for the next matches.

"Will you two just get together already?" Someone yelled at us. Who was it?

"Misty?" May asked.

"Misty?" I asked.

"Yes, it's me. It's got on my last nerve when I heard about what's going on, I couldn't take it anymore. You both clearly like each other, so why don't you just do the whole world a favor. Stop denying it, stop ignoring the facts, and agree that you like the other and go on a date already.

"Misty!" Ash yelled coming in here.

"I'm sorry but if I have to, I'll tie them together until their next match and beyond then if they don't get it through their heads. They're even more oblivious then everyone said we were." Misty yelled.

"What is going on?" May asked confused.

"They think that we're in love."

"Not think, I know. May you've told me before? Moreover, it's obvious with the way Drew naturally is that he likes you. So grow up, deal with it, and be happy." Misty said.

"That's not how you deal with it Misty." Ash said.

"I don't care, it works." Misty said.

May started crying, ran out of the room without crashing into anything, and kept running. Max walked in. "Was that just May?"

"Yeah, and if you don't mind I have to help May out since you guys decided to upset a blind person when we're in the middle of a huge city." Everyone went quiet.

I walked outside and I ran into Brock. "May went that way." He said pointing toward a lake. I smacked my head. I ran faster until I stopped at the edge of a cliff, she probably fell. I jumped down there onto the beach and I saw May.

"I know it's you Drew, I've memorized your footsteps." May said.

"You seem upset." I said.

She kept looking at the sand and then shook her head. "I'm not upset, I guess. I'm not sure."

"I know I'm not."

"Huh?" She asked.

"I expected it would happen eventually. I would have liked to tell you myself but it was a lot harder then I expected it would be."

"Tell me what?"

"That I like you, and that I think I love you." She gasped and then stared at nothing again. "You were oblivious huh?" I asked.

"Not oblivious, I was trying to be blind. I wasn't sure what to do. I thought that you may like be but I didn't want to…

"Mess anything up by being wrong, I understand. I didn't tell you for the same reason. You gave some hints but I wasn't sure. I wanted to make sure because…

"Everything wouldn't work out if we were wrong. I know… I really do want to be your partner. It's great. Everything is going great, I didn't want anything to change or we'd have to quit."

"So, where do we go now?" I asked simply.

"Forward would be nice, not into the lake because I heard it before I ran into it but forward in time would be nice." May said. I chuckled and I stood up and sat next to her.

"So, though it's probably implied by the way you're talking. Do you like me?" She blushed and nodded. "Thought so, so then it's okay if I kiss you right?"

"What?!" That was all she could say because I leaned in and kissed her. "Drew," she said as if pouting what.

"What?" I asked smirking. It would only be the second time I had kissed her but this time was a lot more consoling to my heart for everything was over, and now everything could move forward.

"I wanted to tell you that I'm pretty sure I love you too." I smiled.

"I could have guessed." I said.

"Yeah, can you help me back there? I forgot how I got here. I just ran, fell and rolled until I landed her."

"You alright?" I asked concerned for her.

"I'm fine; I've been pushed into canyons before a little hill does no damage." She said.

"Well then let's go back; I'm sure we'll be up, eventually." I said.

She pushed me into the sand, she kissed me, and I kissed her back for a while until we just wanted to relax. "Your eyes feel any better?" I asked.

"They seem to get a lot better everyday. And thanks for helping me through everything Drew." I smiled.

"My pleasure, May. I'd be happy to do it anytime." I said smiling.

"May, Drew, you down there?!" Max yelled.

"We have to go it seems." May said.

"Yeah but we can't stay by a lake forever, or we'd never get anywhere." I said.

"Right, let's go." I helped May up, then I helped her climb up the hill, and we returned to the seats to wait for our turn up. For anyone here, especially Harvey was hardly a challenge for us for we were is in sync as you can get.


	7. ◊ How I Wish I Was Dreaming ◊

◊ (How I Wish I Was Dreaming) ◊ 

∆ (Contest Contestant Locker Room) ∆ - ¤ (A bit later) ¤ - Φ (May) Φ 

I was seriously ecstatic about my new boyfriend, and new found true love for my close friend, and partner drew. Drew seemed considerably happy too. Though I couldn't see his face, it knew that he was happy as well. You could tell by the way he talks, it changes as he encounters things.

I stood up and realized Drew wasn't there. "Huh, Drew, where are you?" I asked searching around the near area around me.

"He's not here. He had to drop one of his pokémon at his house." A voice said. It wasn't anyone I recognized. Also, why would Drew drop off his pokémon at his house. He also lives extremely far away.

"Drew…" My arms were pulled behind me tied behind my back, and so were my feet. He picked me up and threw me over what I suppose was his shoulder.

A while later I was put down and I was set on what I supposed was a chair or bed or something comfortable. I leaned back and hit my head on a wall. "Ouch."

"Be careful." I heard a voice say.

"Drew?" I asked looking around.

He snorted. "Yeah, it's me. You and I are both tied up in a room here."

"What are we sitting down on? It's comfortable."

"You're sitting on me stupid." He said. I blushed and tried to climb off him.

"Sorry. I had no control of myself you know."

"Yeah, I know." I sighed and rested my head carefully on his lap. Well what I was inferred was his lap and I curled to his side. I can imagine him smiling.

"You're smiling aren't you?" I asked smirking to myself.

"Maybe," He answered me most likely turning his and if he could he would flip his hair. It was a Drew-like thing to do.

I rested my eyes. Usually I'm trying to open them knowing they have a patch with tape to hold them down because I'm use to opening them so I struggle but now I figured I should rest them. "Drew, who kidnapped of us? And why?"

" Harvey, who else. Moreover, as to why, because he hates me, and you because we have beaten him years ago many times. The whole eliminate the competition thing. He doesn't it his way." I sighed and snuggled up to Drew. He's probably blushing more, but like I care. I'm resting.

"May?" Drew asked.

"Um…Hm." I answered trying to sleep, not that he was letting me very well now.

"Did he take you pouch, with your pokémon?"

"No, I don't think so." I said sitting up. "You can check because I can't." I said. I crawled around on my knees and he turned around backwards and reached in my pouch.

"Cumbusken, come on out." Drew said.

"Cumbusken."

"Can you get these ropes off us?" I asked.

"Cumbusken," Cumbusken apparently did and I was free. I searched through my bag like the blind girl I was. I took out my cell phone and called the number for the contest. After recalling Cumbusken and thanking him for his help.

"Hello?" Nurse Joy answered.

"This is May, Drew and I were kidnapped by Harvey. We'll be there soon, can you explain our state so we can return?" I asked.

"Of course, I hope you return safely. They're disqualified now." Nurse Joy said. I hung up the phone and looked to Drew.

"Everything's taken care of let's go." I walked forward and crashed into a wall. I landed on my back.

Drew sighed and probably flipped his hair. He was most likely holding his hand out now. I searched the air for it. He sighed again, took a hold of my hands and helped me up. "Come on May, we've got to go." He said.

He wrapped his arm around my waste and guided me through the building. "Where are we?"

"A organization center or something. I haven't seen a building like this before. It may take us a while to find our way out." I sighed.

"No way, just make no sound." I sensed faint noises coming from in front of us. "There." I said pointing toward the sounds.

"Alright," He said guiding me toward where I heard the sounds and I knew we were outside from the brighter scene that played before me. It was louder but the sounds seemed farther. "Good, we're out."

We arrived at the center from what I could hear. Our presences were clearly missed in this rather large competition. "Now May Adena and Drew Kito will start competing."

We took the stage and everything went quite. Thank you, I said quietly focusing on envisioning the stage. "Who are we against?"

"Those two from before, the deaf kid and the other." The deaf kid… he helped me. He did I remember he did.

Ж (Flashback) Ж 

_"Um, miss. I'd recommend having someone lead you." He said. _

_"Blaizken, come on out." I picked her pokéball out and then put my hand on her. "I need you to guide me around, can you do that." _

_"Blaze." _

_"Good, oh wait, how long until they should be healed." _

_"A month or so, have them checked out then. The reason why you're tired is because the nerves are trying very hard to get a signal through and using up a lot of energy. Sleeping a lot is good if you're going to use your eyes." _

_"Thanks and bye." I walked along side of Blaizken as she guided me through the halls. _

_I arrived at my room and sat there staring into the black of my eyelids. "I'd rather be deaf." I said. _

_"Me too." I voice said. I turned around crazily until I located the source of the voice. _

_"It's you… Mark right?" I asked. _

_"Yeah, sorry about your eyes. It's the flamethrower from one of your matches in the preliminaries at your last contest. The flames damaged your eyes; you should be fine in a few days, not how ever long they told you." _

_"Really?" _

_"They guessed weeks or whatever because they didn't know how damaged or how it happened but I noticed it so you'll be fine. I wanted to tell you that, bye." He said and probably left about now. _

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж 

"Why is it quieter?" Mark asked.

"Because May needs to sense where everything is around her to compete."

"Special treatment eh?"

"People help you don't they?" I asked.

"Yeah, but not as major as this."

"They are good people and they want to help me. There's no harm in that, is there?" I asked.

"No, of course not. I was just asking. It seems your hearing is improving as well." I said.

"Yeah, my accident was pokémon related. A loud mouthed pokémon, can't remember it's name but I'm slowly healing. So let's go on." He said releasing his pokémon I suppose. I sensed it was hotter it the room.

"Drew?" I asked.

"Blaizken." Drew said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, be prepared." He said.

"Got it, the other one?"

"Charmander," Drew responded.

"Two fire pokémon eh, Squirtle come on out." I called he was probably not expecting that. Squirtle jumped in my arms. "Hey little buddy? You ready for this. Two top notch fire pokémon, levels 2 and 3 but you've got this, right?"

"Squirt…le,"

"Good, now prepared yourself."

"May…" Drew started.

"Don't worry; I've got it under control." I smiled wide. "Trust me," I said.

"I do, but I wasn't expecting…"

"It, yeah I know. I'm strategizing. I've got an idea, so keep up." I said smiling.

"What is it?"

I reached out my arms to Drew until I found him. He pulled me toward him. "Grass is considerably weaker with fire, I know from experience that one on one with a fire Rosélia is fine but if we went fire and grass vs. fire and fire we'd be at an extreme disadvantage. When I picked Squirtle it played up on Rosélia and down on all others. Perfect huh?"

He smirked most likely. "Yeah, I guess that was a very good move. It's logical. Prepare now." I let go and took a step or two over. I sat down so I could focus on the match.

"Blaze!" One of them called.

"Two." I said to Squirtle. I had trained Squirtle all his attacks on numbers after hours of practice.

Water Gun Water Shield Water Tunnel Ice Beam Rain Protect Bubble Rapid Spin Hydro Pump Bite Blizzard 

"Now Two, Rosélia I want you two go head on into the attack." I said. Rosélia followed. "Get it Drew?" I asked.

"Yeah, Rosélia, spin like the water tunnel and use stun spore." Drew said. Rosélia circled around like squirtle's attack, the speed was increased by. The water and stun spore was slowly effecting their pokémon and with the increased power of water with it, they were losing points fast.

"Dead shot!" They both called. Drew and I have never heard of this attack.

"Molten Fire." Drew said.

"8 and 4, go." I called. "Rosélia duck." I said. I usually use this combination for beauty during performances but against molten lava, it would freeze it.

"Rosélia, head butt." Drew said breaking the fire.

"What now?" I asked.

"Solar Bean and Ice Beam," He said quietly.

"Solar Beam,"

"4," I said after he had started. It was a messy attack, of frozen ice and pure sun energy but it was strong and knocked them out with an explosion. The explosion knocked Drew and I back and knocked our pokémon into our arms.

I felt the attack. I sympathized with the pokémon. I was bearing and freezing. It was oddly calming and I felt my self-falling asleep. I jammed my eyes open and I felt myself break into pieces and shatter.

"May!" I heard Drew say. That's all I heard.

I faintly tried to sense anything, move something but I couldn't. I tried to open my eyes though I shouldn't. Everything hurt, I felt that I must have been jumped on by a snorlax because that's how I felt. "Medics." I heard Drew say.

I tried to sense where he was, but all I could feel is pain, extreme pain. Everything hurt. I just wanted to escape it.

- (Dream) –

"What happened?" I asked.

"You… well… um… yeah." A girl said. She was quite shy and hid behind a little house.

"Come on, out with it." I said getting impatient.

"I was told, but I… uh… forgot?" She questioned. "Sorry." She said looking at the ground. "I didn't mean to forget."

"It's alright, who are you?"

"Um… I don't know." She answered me.

"You don't know your name?" I asked.

"No… I don't remember it. There's a difference… at least… I think there is." She said thinking to herself. I sighed.

"Do you remember anyone's faces, like family?"

"I remember you." She said in high spirits.

I sighed, "So you remember people you just met, but nothing else."

"Yeah, right. No wait… no. I remember you when I was a little girl, like 5. I'm 7 now." So I've known her a while, I guess?

"How did you know me?" I asked.

"Um… family. We are… family."

"I'm sorry but did you say family?" I asked.

"Yeah… my family." She said warm and comforting. I sighed, surely, if she was related to me I could remember her, right.

She looked oddly familiar. Her warm ora, her calm face and shy contentious nature. She reminded me of… Drew! She must be related to Drew and she thinks I'm related to Drew.

"Do you know Drew?" I asked.

"Yeah, he and I are really close." She said. "Like you and me are." She added. Her relation to Drew is the same as mine with hers is. It didn't make any sense to me for I was confused beyond belief.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"If I knew I wouldn't be lost." She said starting to cry. I held her in my arms.

"Sorry, I'm trying to help…" … but not succeeding.

I began to cry softly to myself. After a while, I was just holding the small girl against my body and I felt bad for her. "Hey girls," A calm mannered voice said wrapping his arms around me. I looked up at Drew.

"Hey Drew," I said quietly not to wake up the girl.

"Morning May," He said smiling.

"Do you know her, she can't remember anything, including her name."

"Of course I do, did her name accidentally slip your mind?"

"She says she knows me, but I've never met her in my life." I said.

He laughed. "Nice joke May, you've spent 7 years of your life with this girl, more like 8 and you don't remember her name."

"No." I said plainly.

He placed his hand on my forehead and smiled. "You're not hurt are you? Because you don't have a fever." I smirked and rested my head against you.

"I don't know her Drew. I don't."

"I don't see how you can't, she's your…"

- (Dream Over) –

"What?" I said sitting up and screaming in pain.

"May!" Drew said coming to my side and helping me gently rest my body down.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked hurting.

"You went through four surgeries and you're healing." He said.

"For what, surgeries?" He nodded.

"Yeah."

"What happened?" I asked.

"During the end of the contest, there was an explosion after our attacks ended. Our pokémon are alright and so are our competitors but you were so close on the field that the attack knocked you back into a wall, shattering your ribs, damaging your spinal cord, knocking you unconscious, and the force caused you to rip and exhort the muscles in your eyes."

"Eh." I said cringing at the horrible sound of it.

"Yeah, it was horrible for me to. You were unconscious for it all. It was horrible for me."

"I can't imagine." I said.

Ж (Flashback) Ж – Φ Drew Φ 

The explosion blasted across the field causing our pokémon to collide into me. I couldn't see May, and she obviously could see me. A huge gust forced me back as I fought being pushed against the wall, it was strong. Then I heard it, the most horrible fearful sound I could hear.

It was like the sound of death, a body being ripped apart. It was the sound of her body crashing at high speeds at full force UN cushioned against a hard stonewalls shattering many bones. It was a sickening sound and made me sick but I couldn't do that.

"May!" I managed to say in all this and I went to her body after the smoke had cleared. I returned our pokémon and pulled her body beside me. I laid her head on my lap and I held her. She had to be all right. I know she was in pain and hurting but if she suffered brain damage, there is a chance, and she wouldn't wake up. I didn't want that to happen. "May, May." She couldn't hear me. She was gone.

"Medics." I called. I just sat there with her seemingly lifeless body resting one me. I looked at her. Her appearance seemed so normal. Except that her body was like inertly collapsing because of the lack of frame since her bones shattered.

They carefully moved her onto a stretcher and it went through my mind, the contest. It was a contest, like any other. Except the explosion, change in pokémon, change in plan, a guess on how it would turn out. A dangerous explosion that's force pushed her from the ground back against the wall at high speeds crashing into the wall. The sound would scare me forever in my mind.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

"Drew, I'm so sorry that I scared you so much." I said. I didn't want anyone to ever worry about me.

He smiled and relaxed. "As long as you're healing, and doing better than ever, you're doing fine. With 3 ribbons, we're all good." I said.

"Huh, we one. Though I didn't feel like being joyous about it. Nurse Joy gave me our two ribbons in an attempt to make me feel better."

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"Not long, a week now." I would have jumped if not for Drew resting his hand gently on my shoulder to keep me down.

"A week is a long time, 2 contests." I said. "We could be done." He smirked and kissed my lips.

"Don't worry, you won't have to worry about that anymore." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"Your parents are coming to get you in a week, when you're fully done healing. They'll put you in a helicopter and fly you there."

"Drew…" He placed a hand on my lips.

"It's alright. Don't worry. You're fine." He said.

"But…" He with a little more strength pushed his finger against my lips.

I sat up and leaned into my knees which sent me into excruciating pain. I didn't care. All would be lost soon enough. I'd have more then enough time to heal. I didn't need this. I didn't know which was worst, inside or out of me. Well my insides were the ones broken. My exterior looked normal. To say, I didn't know which hurt more, my emotional problems or the pain radiating from every inch of me.

"I'm leaving, I'll be back after I finish. Be back soon." He said rubbing my back gently and caringly and walking out. I reached my arm out. He smiled assuring me he'd be back and left. I cried more. It was so painful. More then anyone could imagine. He might not be leaving me now, but he might as well have been, to save me the pain of saying good-bye. I cried more, for I needed him back. Now we had found each other, you couldn't, by any way in the world take him away from me.

Oh how I wanted this to all be a dream, I wanted this to be not a dream, it would be a nightmare. I want to wake up. But I knew from the real pain in my heart, and the real pains of my body that this was real. I didn't need to pinch myself to prove it.

I opened my eyes and looked at Drew who was resting in the corner. "You can't…" I managed to say.

He opened one of his eyes to look at me. "I can't what?"

"You can't leave me Drew, just when I understand, just when I know. You can't." He walked over to me and put his hand on mine.

"I promise that I won't say good-bye forever. I don't promise that I won't do what's best for you." He told me whispering it in my ear.

A nurse walked in. "She's awake. We need to give her medications to calm her pain." I sighed. I wanted to be with Drew, alone. The whole world, just needs to leave us to be us. Is that so much to ask? I wanted to scream!

I was given my medication and amazingly I couldn't feel any of physical pain any more. That's the least I can say about my pain over all. My emotional pain sunk in deeper. Every minute was one less until he would leave me. Leave me… I started crying again.

He walked over and wrapped his arms gently around me. "You need to stop crying, it's not like you're dead."

"I don't care for the physical pain at all, but the emotional damage the contest caused is irremeasurable, and so intense. I wish I would have let you kept me from it. That way my eyes would have healed, I wouldn't have exploded the stage. I wouldn't have been hurt. Moreover… I wouldn't have to leave you." I added quietly.

"It's not going to be long, just…

"Until I heal right?" He nodded. "In my state it could be a year. A year." I cried harder. He rested his head into my shoulder. Isn't it amazing how the happier become, the more I have to lose, the more is taken. I can't believe I've suffered so much, lost so much and I continue to lose and gain equally. It isn't fair. I've suffered enough. Still, there are always those that suffer more then I do.

"Drew, can't you go with me?" I asked him.

"I'm not sure, maybe, possibly. I didn't think to ask." He said.

"Because, I'm sure I'm going to miss you." He kissed my forehead.

"I'm going to miss you too May." Drew said.

I rested my head against him. "I don't want you to leave me." I said.

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't leave you ever May." I looked at him and smiled.

"Can you go get my phone?" I asked.

"Sure." He said walking over into the wardrobe.

He grabbed my phone and handed it to me. I called my parents. "May?" They questioned.

"Yeah, it's me mom."

"Hey May, how are you? We're coming to get you next week, don't worry." She said.

"Um… I was wondering if Drew could stay with us as well. Because… um… yeah." I said trying to think of the right words to say.

"I need to go, when you are ready to tell me, call back. Alright?" My mom asked.

"Yeah." I said hanging up the phone in defeat. Drew put a hand on my back and smirked as I tried to peace the words together. "I give up." I said.

Dear Readers: Sorry this was late by 2 days. It was ready by yesterday but it was like 1am and I just shut my computer off and went to sleep. I was just so tired with school and such. Well it's here, only a bit later then I thought it would be, sorry again. Aniecä


	8. ◊ Getting it Through ◊

◊ (Getting It Through) ◊

∆ (Hospital) ∆ - VP: Drew

May was having a hopelessly impossible time trying to convince her self of what to do. However, she is hopelessly lost.

"Want me to?" I asked her.

"No, I need to." She said simply closing her eyes. I leaned against the wall.

"Alright, whatever you want." I said.

"Drew, I need to be able to talk to my own parents." She said as if it was disgraceful for her not to be able to explain this.

"It's obviously something new to you, no reason to be ashamed or scared. They'll understand."

"Really, you think so?"

"Of course," I said. Someone was knocking on the door; I found it to be Max and Misty.

"Can I see my sister?" Max asked.

"Sure, May… I'll be back later." She nodded and I left. I walked down the hall and Ash stood up and followed me outside.

"Drew?" Ask asked.

"Yes?"

"You like May right?"

"Yeah, so?" I said.

"How did you manage to tell her you liked her?" He asked.

"I love her but beside the point, it just happened." I answered.

"So you can't help me tell Misty I like or love her?" Ash asked disappointed.

"Nope, you have to deal with it yourself. However, Misty is a smart girl, I'm sure she figured that you at least like her. But I suggest you do want to tell her to her face, correct?"

"Yeah, but how?" He asked.

"I don't know how, you just need to find a perfect time to." I said continuing to walk.

"You want to and plan to go with May don't you?" Ask asked.

"I want to but I don't exactly plan to. May refuses to let me talk to her parents about it."

"And, can't she?"

"Can she you mean, yes she can. The problem is; however, she's having problems with it."

"What do you mean problems?"

"It's new to May, having a boyfriend and now she has to ask her parents if I can come home with her."

"I see, but why wouldn't she let you do it?" Ash asked.

"Because she said 'Drew, I want to be able to talk to my own parents.' I didn't bring it up again. I understood what she wanted. She wanted to be able to be talk to her own parents, be mature enough. I respect that in her."

"You really understand May, don't you?"

"I guess, on most levels, it's not hard to understand anyone, but she's… well, how to say this."

"Unique?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, for lack of a better work, yes, unique. May has a certain way she does things to be individualistic. She doesn't want anyone to do anything for her that she can do for herself. She's not useless, anyone would agree. To explain this, she wants to show everyone that she isn't weak, useless, or untalented; she wants to prove to the world how great she is."

"You really do understand her, don't you?"

"Since you're not getting this. I'll give you a straight answer, yes." I said continuing once again to walk. I stopped, again. "Don't you understand Misty?"

"Yeah, I understand her. There's not much to understand." Ash said.

"Exactly, everyone thinks there is so much to understanding girls, yet, there isn't. Girls are just like guys, there isn't much beyond that. You think about it and you can figure them out simply."

"Did hanging out with two sisters teach you that?"

"Something like that," I responded.

"I think I might take her out to dinner and tell her. That…"

"Wouldn't be the best idea. Let it happen naturally. Let things fall as they may." I said.

"Alright, but try to help May with the whole, talking to her parents thing, alright." I nodded, turned around and returned to the hospital. Good think I stopped a lot during the conversation or who knows where I would have ended up but I would have made it back, of course.

I returned to May's room to find just Max talking non-stop to May who was ignoring him. "A hem," I said entering the room. May's face showed gratitude and happiness while Max just sat in a chair.

"What's up Drew?" May asked. "You where gone a while longer than I expected." She said.

"Yeah, but entertained her." Max said happily.

"Thanks, I guess. I was just strolling the area with Ash, talking about stuff."

"Really, what stuff?" May asked.

"Girls," I said not caring how she responded.

"Like me?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said this made her happy.

"What about me, and who else?"

"You and Misty." I said.

"Really, well that's good. I figured that they were or are getting together soon. Did you know that Misty likes Ash?"

"Yeah because I know Ash does likewise."

"Really?" Max asked. "That's good to know."

"How come?" May asked, I was interested to know why that was important to know.

"Because it gives me something to talk to Ash about." May was confused but I understood. It gave Max something to talk about during his travels with Ash. After all Max was reaching a time when he would sooner or later start dating girls unless he was like his sister which I suppose he wasn't but if he was. Then he would wait until he found the perfect girl for him, and then eventually engage in a relationship.

"Well, what did Misty need to talk to you about?" I asked.

"Guys," May said. "To be specific, you and Ash." I nodded, that I could have predicted.

"I think they get along great." Max said.

"Not from what May says, that's why she's not absolutely sure Ash likes her because of the way they argue with each other a lot. However, she's waiting for him to make the first move."

"I could have figured. That's very predictable for a girl." May looked at me slightly offended. "It's a general statement. Most girls wait for guys to make the first move."

"I guess you're right, I guess I was waiting for you too." May said thinking.

"Well I hate to rain on your parade but I've got to go back to the center May, sorry." Max said.

"It's perfectly alright Max, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite."

"You'll be okay at the hospital by yourself May?" Max asked.

"Oh yeah I'll be fine. I've got Drew here remember." She said smiling at me.

"No worries Max see you tomorrow." I said.

"Whatever for?"

"I figured you'd be visiting her, right?" I asked.

"Yeah I was of course, I just didn't get it." I nodded as he left.

"You're strange you know that, creeping out my brother with the way you seem to know everything." I shrugged. "You're speaking a lot less now."

"You can see me now; I can go back to normal now." She smiled.

"That's right; I can see all your little displays of answers. Wait a minute, I can see again, yeah." She said happily enjoying the fact she remembers that she can see again. She sure did miss it.

"You're strange too, you know that?" I said mimicking her.

"Drew." She said pouting sort of.

"I was just making and observation."

"If I could get out of this bed." She yelled in frustration. I walked over to her and kissed her cheek.

"I'd rather have you just sit there and heal. You'll be able to soon but don't push yourself." I said simply.

"We're both strange." She said sighing in both delight, and satisfaction with my response.

"Yeah, everyone is as Ash says, Unique." I quoted.

"Yeah, we are." She said resting her head on her pillow. She seemed content with sleeping now. I stayed quite and took a seat in a chair so I could watch her until she fell asleep.

"Night May." She nodded.

"Good Night Drew." She said smiling and finally falling asleep.

¤ (Morning) ¤ 

I felt something hit me. I opened my eyes to meet a pillow in my face. I sighed. "Good you're up, morning Drew." I sighed, over anxious girl. Where does she plan on doing?

"You hungry or something?"

"Now that I think about it, no. Why do you ask?"

"I figured you'd need a purpose to wake me up." She laughed.

"No, after an hour of watching you sleep I figured it be more fun to talk you then watch you sleep though watching you sleep was quite enjoyable." She said smiling. I blushed and looked away.

May and I were opposites of each other on half of the levels of life. May was very energetic, temperamental, emotion crazed and talkative. While I, on the other hand, was calm, mild mannered, keep-to-yourself type and quite. That made us the opposite yet when it came down to all other things, we were really the same.

"Penny for you thoughts?" May asked smiling at me.

"I'm just thinking, nothing big." She nodded.

"I want you to help me plan out what to say. I want to be the one to say it but I need you support so I want you to help me." I shrugged and nodded. "Alright."

"What do you want to tell them?"

"That I want you to come home with me, that you're my partner as well as boyfriend and… I don't know." She said sighing.

"It's a start."

"It's harder then I expected it would be."

"You've said that before."

"Have I, because I don't remember saying it?" She asked.

"You're pretty forgetful then because you said 'It's harder then I expected it would be' when I met you by the late. You said that because you thought it would be harder to admit our feelings for one another then it was."

"Oh yeah, I guess I say that without thinking."

"Apparently." She sighed.

"I liked it when you talked more." She said.

"I don't, I rather like listening to you talk. It's much more interesting." She laughed.

"Thanks I guess." She smiled now.

"Well maybe you should just practice with telling people." I said.

"Like how?"

"Tell our friends, because we haven't officially told them. They sort of assumed it."

"Though their assumptions haven't been wrong, well yeah they have but in stuff as obvious as this they haven't." She said. I placed a finger over her mouth to stop her.

"Please refrain from talking for no reason, I'll get the others and you can tell them." I turned around but she held on to my hand.

"Alright, but if I embarrass myself, you're in for it." I laughed.

"Most fall before they fly, you'll get it. After telling the first few, you'll get the hang of it and be able to tell your parents, don't worry." I said walking off.

"I hope so." She said quietly, though I still heard.

(A/N: I finally made a part of my story my own!) I walked to the pokémon center which wasn't really all that far and walked in. May's parents were sitting there. "Drew?" They asked. I stopped.

"Yeah." I said. May's mom came over to me and hugged me.

"I'm glad you're alright. Max and Ash went off somewhere this morning and said that you'd possibly be over to show us to the hospital if not, and then they would later. I'm so glad to see you though." She said.

"Yeah you too, I didn't figure you'd be here for another week."

"Neither did we, but when I heard May on the phone yesterday I figured we might as well come earlier since she's being let out tonight." I nodded understanding their logic.

"Can you take us to see May?" She asked practically begging me.

"Of course, I was going to talk to Ash and Max before I returned but seeing as they're gone I guess I could take you back. May will be surprised for sure." I said. I hope she's ready.

"When I heard that you were in the hospital I figured they meant you were injured during the match as well but I'm glad you're alright. How is May?" They asked.

"She's doing a lot better, well compared to how she was after the accident. The surgeries and rest paid off. I was in the hospital accompanying May because she was a tad bit lonely." Enough to throw a pillow at me when I was sleeping to have someone to talk with.

"That's extremely nice of you. I think that's what she was trying to tell me but the phone had a horrible signal in the hospital. She should have used their phone." I nodded, we should have but based on how she was talking they wouldn't have understood her any way.

When we arrived at the hospital, I stepped in May's room. "Your parents." I said calmly. She was surprised and then her parents were in. She tried to calm herself as I leaned against the wall again.

"Mom, Dad, hi." She said as best as she could utter.

"Hey May, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, I could be better but I'm doing excellent." She said.

"That's good to hear." Her mom said.

"Who's watching the gym?" May asked.

"We closed it so we can take you home tonight. Don't worry; trainers can take an extra day to rest before they challenge me." May nodded. She wasn't happy about her dad coming. She didn't like having people make sacrifices for her.

"So you're doing alright?" Her mom asked.

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine."

"You sounded bad yesterday when we talked." May started choking and her parents were shocked I smirked and watched as she managed to lie back down and breath.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Her mom asked again.

"Yeah it's just that…" She looked at me desperately for help.

"Yeah, she's fine. She's just been through a lot these last couple of days. The emotional portion of it all is affecting her still that's why she was acting weird on the phone." I explained.

Her mom sighed. "I'm glad it wasn't anything extremely death threatening."

"Um… I know this is kind of off subject but… um… can Drew come home with me?" May asked while extremely out of place as if she wasn't the main subject.

"I don't see why not, I mean he's your friend and partner

"And boyfriend." May added, getting a bit more courage. I smirked with her parents looks they were as sure as Misty did that we belonged together.

"Really?" Her dad asked.

"Yeah," May said extremely happy and proud. I smiled at her naturally happiness in the situation.

"Good for you May, and you too Drew." Her mom said.

"Thanks." May said. I nodded in gratitude. May's stomach growled, I smirked at her, and she looked at me as I walked out of the room. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"To get you something to eat, where else?" I said walking out.

"Is he always like that?" Her mom asked.

"Yeah, pretty much. He doesn't things for everyone else without a word of gratitude or please needed." May replied happily. I smiled, her being happy was enough gratitude for me.

I went to the front desk and the told me that food would be over in a few minutes. I headed back to May's room but I was stopped by May's dad. "You need something?" I asked politely.

"I want to ask you some questions."

"Fine with me, but let's go outside, I figure where this is going." I said.

"Alright," I headed outside and he stood up while I leaned against a tree outside the hospital. "You're obviously going to question me on my care about and for your daughter, May, correct?"

"Yes." He said. I smirked, I figured as much. I figured it would happen eventually the sooner I'm except by her parents the better. "How long have you known her?"

"6 years now, since her first contest." I said.

"How old are you?"

"9 months older then May." I answered. "16 and 9 months."

"Do you care about her?"

I couldn't think of how to answer that, it wasn't hard yet; I couldn't figure what to say. "Yeah I do, I helped train her when she went blind, when she was kidnapped during our one on one contests, our partner contests, when she was severely injured during this last contest now. I love her, and that's as simple as it is." He seemed to like my answer. I guess that's all he needed.

"Do you promise to take of her no matter what?" I smirked.

"Of course, always have, always will, no matter what." I answered.

"Okay, one more thing, a battle." I smirked. I nodded.

I tossed Rosélia's pokéball into the air. "Can you battle?" I asked her.

"Rosélia." I smiled.

"Good, let's go." I said.

"I'll go with my favorite." He said. "Slacking, I choose you."

"A normal pokémon," I said.

"Pound." I stood there.

"Dodge." I responded. Slacking was quite large making it quite slower then Rosélia giving me an advantage. "Razor Leaf, Petal Dance." He was being cut and neutralized at the same time.

"Tackle." He ordered fighting through the storm. I was surprised he'd try a direct attack, again.

"Protect." I said calmly. The shield was holding up well. "Head butt," I said knock his pokémon across the field. "Sleep," I called. Slacking was asleep. Rosélia walked over to me. "Good job."

May's father walked over to me. "Good match." I flipped my hair and shook my hand.

"Thanks." I said.

"You're very good. I can see why my daughter has seen you have her number one rival in the past and now makes you two a great team." I nodded.

"Thanks, we better get back to May." I suggested. He nodded. I walked up to May's room and opened the door.

"Where were you guys?" May asked. I flipped my hair.

"Battling," I answered.

"I'm in the hospital and you're battling, it's so unfair." May complained. I ignored her complaints and leaned against the wall. "I want to compete!" May complained.

"Calm down May, I was just battling you're dad. It's not like I could compete without you either." She sighed and nodded. "I didn't mean it like that May." I said walking over to her.

She looked up and smiled. "It's okay, so why were you battling my dad?"

"He asked me too." I said walking out of the room.

"Drew…" I stopped and turned around.

"Yes?"

"Why?" She asked.

"Not sure, ask him yourself. He's right there in front of you. Don't worry your pretty face about why I did k? I'll be back, no worries."

"Drew, you stop leaving now." I turned around.

"I can't stay in any one place too long May."

"You think I want to and can? I'm just annoyed as you are being here." I looked over my shoulder and smiled.

"Just rest so you'll be able to do more tomorrow as well as the day after k?" I asked walking off closing the door.

"You're not really the most romantic type there Drewbie." My sister, Victoria said behind the door.

"Either that or he's just always been romantically flirting with her so there is no difference." Lily said smiling

"Which is it?" Victoria asked smirking.

"Like I know, I don't really think too much about making moves on her. It's all just there." I answered.

"You think she can hear us?" Lily asked.

"Most likely not," Victoria said.

"What are you here for?"

"Come on Drewbie, we're here to be happy for you." Lily said smiling and hugging me.

"And May," Victoria corrected.

"Yeah, especially her. She rocks." I raised an eyebrow; my little sis was admiring May, weird.

"Drew, hey!" Max yelled. My sisters turned around to meet faces with Ash and Max.

"Hey Drew, who are these girls?" Max asked confused looking at Lily.

"This is my sister, Victoria and stepsister Lily." I said leaning against the wall.

"A pleasure, your May's friends right?" Victoria asked.

" Victoria, cut it." I said.

"Sorry Drewbie," Max started laughing.

"I wouldn't recommend laughing at him." Lily advised.

"It's fine. May's my sister he wouldn't hurt me or he'd face my sister and parents' wrath." Max answered.

"You're May's brother really?" Lily said happily.

"You bet, why do you care though?"

"May saved Drew and my life before." Everyone was confused.

"When?" Max asked.

"Well…" I placed my hand on Lily's mouth.

"No, no Lily feels free to talk to Max if you want but leave May and I out of it, hear me?" I asked.

"Of course brother," She hugged me and ran off pulling Max behind her.

"She's not like you at all." Ash said.

"She's Drew's stepsister, I'm his birth sister." Victoria said leaning against the wall.

"Oh, what was Lily saying about saving lives and whatever?"

"Oh nothing, nothing at all, except the fact that Drew's been a heartless jerk to his little sister for 6 years now since he became a coordinator. We came all this way to make sure that Drew could still love because last time we saw him the only thing he loved were pokémon. And all Lily wanted is to be accepted by Drew but Drew couldn't even manage to get that right." Victoria said angrily but crying.

"Sorry," I said walking over to her. "I really am, for leaving her but well now, I've got a life, a girlfriend, pokémon, a career involving both of them, a life now, and so tell Lily I'm sorry for me and tell her that I never meant to hurt her so much." I said walking away from both of them.

She grabbed my arm when she was crying on the ground. "You think that you can leave us again Drew? I'm not going to let anything mess up our relationship with you again Drew, hear me." She said crying.

"I told you already. I'm sorry, I really am but I've got a girlfriend who I love and she needs me so when her parents leave tonight, I got to be there for her. Don't you understand?" I asked.

"You abandon us again Drew?"

"What do you want from me?" I asked sighing. "You want me to love, and do and have for 6 years. Moreover… I finally get with the girl, May who I really love and I'm happy and I realize my mistakes for abandoning you and you want me to leave May who is the sole reason for me realizing my mistakes and realizing that it's okay to love people again, you do don't you?"

"No… but…" I placed my hand on hers.

"I promise by tonight, I'll apologize and say good-bye to her. She's not 10 anymore, neither am I Victoria. I'm not just a boy anymore; I'm responsible for myself, my actions. I finally have a life, and a girlfriend thanks to you and Lily's work but you are not, and will not take May away from me. We came too far and I need her too much as she needs me to let you separate us. You knew the consequences of helping me realize I loved May, and this is it. K?" I said walking off.

"Drew wait, you promise that you'll say good-bye and apologize, to both of us." I turned around and smiled.

"Yeah I'll say good-bye and apologize to both of you. So will May if possible. Thanks for making it all possible though, I owe you a lot. You did more then I could ever repay you for, you didn't have to."

"But I wanted to." She answered.

"Then don't hold me accountable for the consequences of your over bearing needs." She nodded. Tears filled her eyes.

"I'm sorry that I was selfish. You're right; I should have known the consequences for helping you realize your love for May. Whatever you do you do it in whole, right?" I smiled and nodded. "Then I suppose then you and May are perfect huh?"

"For better or worst we've been there for each other, and we probably won't stop, so bye." I said walking off.


	9. ◊ More or Less than Figured ◊

◊ (More or Less Than Figured) ◊

∆ (Hospital) ∆ - ¤ (Prior to Drew's talk with his sisters) ¤ - Φ (May) Φ

Once for the millionth time today, Drew was leaving the room but I didn't feel like him leaving so… "Drew…" He stopped and turned around.

"Yes?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Not sure, ask him yourself. He's right there in front of you. Don't worry your pretty face about why I did k? I'll be back, no worries."

"Drew, you stop leaving now." He turned around.

"I can't stay in any one place too long May."

"You think I want to and can? I'm just annoyed as you are being here." He looked over his shoulder and smiled.

"Just rest so you'll be able to do more tomorrow as well as the day after k?" He asked walking off closing the door.

"He's not much for speaking is he?" My dad asked.

"You'll be surprised sometimes then but as for now, not really. Too many people." I answered.

"He seems a bit more friendly then last time, doesn't he?"

"Well of course mom, we've been hanging out with each other for years now, partners for two weeks and now we're boyfriend and girlfriend so our relationship has changed, of course." I said smiling.

I closed my eyes and rested as Drew had told me, no advised me to. I heard voices in the hall one seemed like she was crying.

"I told you already. I'm sorry, I really am but I've got a girlfriend who I love and she needs me so when her parents leave tonight, I got to be there for her. Don't you understand?" He asked.

"You abandon us again Drew?" Victoria said. I knew her voice.

"What do you want from me?" He asked. "You want me to love, and do and have for 6 years. Moreover… I finally get with the girl, May who I really love and I'm happy and I realize my mistakes for abandoning you and you want me to leave May who is the sole reason for me realizing my mistakes and realizing that it's okay to love people again, you do don't you?"

"No… but…"

"I promise by tonight, I'll apologize and say good-bye to her. She's not 10 anymore, neither am I Victoria. I'm not just a boy anymore; I'm responsible for myself, my actions. I finally have a life, and a girlfriend thanks to you and Lily's work but you are not, and will not take May away from me. We came too far and I need her too much as she needs me to let you separate us. You knew the consequences of helping me realize I loved May, and this is it. K?"

"Drew wait, you promise that you'll say good-bye and apologize, to both of us."

"Yeah I'll say good-bye and apologize to both of you. So will May if possible. Thanks for making it all possible though, I owe you a lot. You did more then I could ever repay you for, you didn't have to."

"But I wanted to."

"Then don't hold me accountable for the consequences of your over bearing needs."

"I'm sorry that I was selfish. You're right; I should have known the consequences for helping you realize your love for May. Whatever you do, you do it in whole, right? Then I suppose then you and May are perfect huh?"

"For better or worst we've been there for each other, and we probably won't stop, so bye."

Victoria broke out louder in tears, Drew was being truthfully honest and it hurt her. I know that Drew, he's not the one to be around when you want comforting. "Mom, Dad, could you leave and bring Victoria in here?" I asked.

" Victoria?" They questioned.

"The girl out there crying, she's Drew's sister."

"He was being pretty mean to her for his sister."

"You don't understand it all, not at all really. He left because his family was broken apart and he was faced with taking care of a family member who was suppose to replace the sister he was separated from or so his dad thought. Drew couldn't take that so he left to become a coordinator and a few months later, I ran into him."

"Alright then, you can talk to her and help her out." I nodded. A minute later, she walked in the room.

"I'm sorry if I bothered you." She said.

"Nah, don't worry if Drew would stay in one place for a second that would be nice but no, Drew is constantly moving around." She smiled at this.

"I'm also sorry that I wanted to take Drew away from you, it was selfish, rude, inconsiderate and over all extremely idiotic to think about."

I shook my head. "No it wasn't, well maybe a little bit extreme and not thought out but no one thinks everything through. I wish Drew would have been more considerate of your feelings. You have to understand that if you put something together to get a result that affects many, by taking away the thing you put together the effects will dissipate as well." I said.

"Huh?"

"If Drew was miserable when it was just him and you two, what makes you think he will leave me and he won't become miserable or even more if you take him back away from me."

"I never thought about it like that."

"It's like this, by putting ingredients in a cake you can feed everyone but if you somehow take away the ingredients, what makes you think you'll still be able to successfully feed the people without the ingredients?" I asked.

"I guess that's true but… Lily is still." I put my hand on her shoulder.

"I recommend that Lily go with Ash and Max and possibly Misty on their journey. She can train as pokémon trainers, breeders, or even coordinators if you feel like doing so but she's 14 now, she's not the child that Drew left. She should grow up and make something more out of herself, understood?"

"You know best seeing as you have the brother the same age and all." I nodded.

"Drew is his own person now; he's a legal adult now really. He can really live his life any way he wants. It's not fair to tie him down at all. It's no longer his responsibility to watch Lily, it was when she was underage for traveling but not now, she's 14, 4 years over the age for traveling. She can do whatever she wants."

"I guess you're right. It's not Drew's job to baby-sit her. I guess she needs to grow up, right?" I nodded.

"In all honesty you didn't have to watch her either, she's his stepsister and it was their problem. Not yours, you shouldn't have been involved but I'm glad you did or most likely, it would have taken Drew and me a whole lot longer to get together."

"But that other girl…"

"Misty took the final step but nothing would have happened if you didn't push it out into the open. Misty just pushed us together."

"Thanks, well I'm going to leave now."

"What, but you wanted…"

"Drew to say good-bye and apologize. He did already apologize. I'll leave a message at mine and Lily's room as a farewell to you guys but I don't want to any longer be in Drew's life, at least not messing it up. I'm old enough to know where I belong and that isn't what I did to Drew a few minutes ago. Take care of my little bro, you hear me?"

"Most likely he'll be taking care of me but sure, I'll try."

"Good, and bye May. Hopefully I'll see you soon."

"How about Christmas, you and Lily over my place?" I asked.

"Sure, count on it. I'm sure Lily is going to train with Max anyway." I nodded.

"Good-bye May, see you on Christmas." I nodded and waved good-bye to her.

¤ (Later) ¤

"May, you up?" Drew said.

"No, you need something?"

"Not really but you're getting a check up so I just wanted to wake you up before they come, alright?" He said.

"Oh yeah, thanks. How long have I been asleep?"

"Not long, an hour or so. It's 5; they'll let you out at 6." She nodded.

"Bye, see you after I'm done."

"Looking forward to it, I'll be around." I sighed but nodded. The nurse came in a few minutes later and said surprisingly, after 2 days I was healing fine. They said that with my medications and taking it easy for about a month, my bones would be healed which I was surprised since it usually takes like 6 months for them to heal. I was glad it would only be a month because that meant that in August I could go with Drew to get our two remaining ribbons and enter the Grand Festival which would be awesome.

Drew walked in the room and leaned against the wall. "How are you?" He asked.

"I'm fine remembering we went through this with my mom." He sighed.

"No, how is your condition?"

"One month and I can go back to normal stuff." He was as surprised as I was. "Yeah they said that my ribs were surprisingly easy to heal once they pieced them together and with heal bell it removed the normal pains. They said that in a month that my spinal cord would strengthen enough to wall around normally and there was no damage to my head. My eyes are back to normal." He smiled and he wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm glad you're alright."

"Me too," I said resting my head on his shoulder.

I let go of him and he sat down in a chair. After a few minutes, Lily pulled behind her Max. "What's up?" I asked.

" Victoria's gone." I nodded. Lily ran over to me. "You knew, you didn't tell me?" She asked.

"She couldn't." Max reminded her.

"But… someone should have." Drew was just as shocked as she was except he felt it was his fault.

"She said she wanted you to grow up Lily, do whatever you want to with your pokémon, train with Max and Ash if you want or by yourself but you need to realize that you're 14 and you need to realize that you're your own person and you're the only person who you need. It's great to have friends but you won't die without them, I promise you." She walked over to me and was crying. I hugged her.

"But… It's lonely. So lonely… always lonely… I'm always lonely… never not." She said crying.

"Lily, you can train with Ash and I." Max said. "I mean if you have some need to travel that has to do with pokémon we've managed to do it before, why not?" He asked.

"I guess I could go back to being a coordinator." She said smiling but still down. "Lily left these for you guys." She handed on to Max, one to Drew and one for me."

I read over Drew's shoulder. Drew: May told me the entire truth of how Lily should be by now and I realize that now she's not mine or your responsibility so I shouldn't have forced you to leave May to take care of her. She should take care of herself. I'm sorry that I was not thinking. I'm glad you're happy with May and in love. That's what I've always wanted for you little bro Drewbie. Take care of yourself and May for me. Love your sister, Victoria Kito.

I opened up mine. May: Thanks for everything. I know that you'd deny that you did much for me knowing your humble nature and all but, you did a lot for helping me understand my little bro, Drew. I can't thank you more. I guess we're even. I helped you get with Drew and you made him happy. Can't wait to see you on Christmas. Take care of yourself and Drewbie for me. Love, your boyfriend's sister and your friend, Victoria Kito.

"What does yours say Max?" I asked.

"Max: I expect that Lily will be traveling with you knowing May and Drew's influence in the past and current times. Lily is Drew's stepsister and is very dependant on people so I'll expect you to help her through her hard times, as I've known you to do for your sister. I expect you and her to become good friends and I'll enjoy meeting you guys somewhere along the road in your journeys. Take care of Lily for me. Thanks, Your sister's boyfriend's sister and hopefully your soon-to-be friend, Victoria Kito."

" Victoria's writing is always somewhat flashy and confusing isn't it?" Lily asked.

"Lily, read yours won't you?" I asked.

"I guess. Lily: Sorry to leave so unexpectedly. It's your time to grow up and be a great pokémon whatever you plan-to-be. Luck in your travels because knowing you that is where you're heading. Work hard, try to be the best you can. I know you can do it. Try not to hate me for abandoning you out there. I'm gone and you'll probably not find me if you try. I'm sure we'll accidentally come across one another someday and when we do, I can't wait to challenge you. Love, your stepbrother's sister: Victoria Kito." Lily had tears coming from her eyes. Drew stood up and hugged her. It was the kindest act I've seen him do toward anyone besides me in a long time.

"It's alright Lily." Drew said.

"No one seems to want to be with me." She complained.

"No, you just need to learn that you don't need to be with anyone."

"But that was the mistake you made and you were so lonely for so long."

"Then go on, make friends while on your travels with Ash and Max, I'm sure they won't mind. Right?" Drew asked.

"Of course not." Max said. "We usually travel all over anyway. I'm sure this will make our travels a lot more productive." Lily smiled and Drew let her go. She walked over to Max and hugged him. He was blushing crazily.

"Thanks you so much for including me." She said. She kissed his cheek and happily waltzed off. Max was blushing bright red now and Drew was smirking while I was laughing my head off.

Max walked out and my parents walked in. "What's going on in here?" My dad asked.

"Max is love struck with Lily." I said smiling.

"Lily is who again?"

"My stepsister." Drew said.

"Ah, well you ready to go May?"

"I need to get my pokémon, all my stuff, and say good-bye to everyone first." I said.

"I'll take care of getting your stuff and your pokémon that I've been watching these last few days. You take your time meeting me at the Pokémon Center where everyone is meeting us to say good-bye alright?" Drew said.

"Thanks Drew, see you soon." I said waving as he walked off. He waved behind him.

My parents left the room and returned to the lobby so that I could get dressed and walk out of the hospital. Apparently I wasn't hurt to extremely besides my ribs which were pretty much broken into 3 inch long pieces and could have killed me by puncturing my lungs but they were fixed and my spinal cord didn't take much damage just sent me into shock which caused my unconsciousness but besides that, I was fine.

I walked out as if I had never been a patient and my parents escorted me to the pokémon center. I walked in the pokémon center. I was greeted by my pokémon. "You guys look awesome, good job Drew." I said knowing he was somewhere nearby."

"No problems, we've been taking care of our pokémon together everyday for a few weeks and I memorized how to care for them, wasn't hard." I smiled.

"Well thanks anyway," I said. I walked over to him. "Remember you have to apologize to Lily." He nodded and escorted her out of the room.

"May you seem a lot better?" Ash said. "Sorry we didn't get to talk earlier but I was trying to calm down Victoria."

"Its fine, I knew you were around somewhere." I answered. Brock walked over. "Hey Brock, sorry we didn't get to talk much with everything going on. Thanks for being here though." He nodded.

"You're welcome May, take care of yourself."

Max walked over to me. "Take care sis; see you for Christmas, right?" I asked.

"Of course." I said. "Lily and Victoria are coming too so make sure you remember to bring them." He nodded.

Lily was smiling happily while Drew followed in with a look that said, 'done'. He walked over to me. "Bye." He said.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked.

"Your place but with the rate you're taking to say good-bye it'll be a while." I sighed.

"Lily take care of yourself, k? Enjoy whatever world of pokémon you choose. Hope to see you in the finals sometime." I said.

"Alright but you feel better and take care of my brother. Keep him happy alright?"

"Sure thing, bye." She nodded. I returned all my pokémon and Drew grabbed my bags and his and we went up to the airport and loaded ourselves in an airplane.

"I've never been on an airplane, especially for such a short distance?" Drew looked at me as if I was crazy.

"It's a three day walk just from the boarders of Hoenn to their boarders; 5 days walk from your hometown to this city. It's a long flight so just sleep."

"I can't I'm too excited." He sighed.

I was beginning not to feel well but strangely Drew didn't seem at all worried so I figured it was normal on airplanes to get airsick so I rested my head against his shoulder which he didn't seem to mind and I closed my eyes resting.

"Eevee!" Eevee said jumping on my lap. I looked to see Eevee was there.

"You brought your pokémon up here with you?"

"Of course where are yours?"

"In the pokémon care center," I sighed.

"They have on of those?" I asked.

"Of course, Eevee is probably sick in that pokéball on the flight, we might as well take her back there." He said. I nodded. We stood up and I followed him holding Eevee to the back of the plane.

"Hello Ms? Can I see your Eevee?" A woman asked.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because she seems quite strong and should be ready to evolve soon."

"You think?" I asked.

"Eevee."

I turned to Drew. "It's possible that she wasn't sick she was alerting you that she's ready to evolve." Drew said.

"I agree with this young man. Have you taken into consideration what you'd like her to evolve into?"

"Not really, I have a water, fire, grass, fighting, ice, flying, and poison types."

"Then Espeon is what you should get, she's a physic type but yet again you don't have an electric or dark type either."

"True, I'm not sure at all." I said sitting on the ground petting Eevee.

"You're a pokémon coordinator right?"

"I don't know what the term for it is but I'm partnered up with Drew in coordinating." I answered.

"You must be Drew then." He nodded.

"Well then maybe you should figure out which types you guys don't have." I nodded.

"That would be electric and psychic." Drew said.

"So which do you want to be?" I asked Eevee.

"Eevee." I sighed, not a bit of help. Drew rolled his eyes.

"Well we have all available stones here; we could just lay them out, and let her choose like that."

I took the sun shard and thunder stone and held them out they looked quite similar both being bright but she touched the sun shard and evolved into Espeon. "Case closed, she's an Espeon." The woman said.

"Espeon," I petted her and held her on my lap.

"She's beautiful." Drew said. I nodded.

"Espeon." She said jumping up on my shoulder and lying there, she was like a typical Eevee just in a different form. I picked up Espeon and handed her to the lady who took care of the pokémon along with my others after letting them out and Drew escorted me to the front of the plane.

"An Espeon eh?" He asked.

"Yep." I answered. We arrived soon and picked up all our stuff as well as our pokémon. We took a Taxi to the gym. "It's the same as when we left." I said.

"What did you expect; it's not been very long since you left." Drew said.

"I guess. Let's go in." I said smiling. He shrugged and followed her in.

I opened the door to the guest room. "It's nice and all but where do I let my pokémon go at?"

"Come on, you'll enjoy seeing this." I said walking back around the house through a door. "It's our exclusive gym resort for our pokémon. You like it?"

"Impressive." He said.

"Everyone come on out." I called.

"You guys as well."

"Where are you other pokémon, you can get them imported as well?" I asked.

"With professor Oak," He answered. "I'll go get them."

"Okay." I answered as he left the room. I decided to lie down in the grass.

"Rosélia." She said. I sat up and petted her.

"Drew will be back soon." I said comforting her.

"I am back, not will be." Drew said.

"Hey Drew, Flygon, Masquerain, and Absol I said sitting up and saying hi to all the pokémon."

"Hey yourself." He said sitting next to me. "You guys play around with all the other pokémon." Drew told them. They ran off and I lay down in the grass next to Drew.

"This place is sure being taken care of perfectly." I said.

"It sure is, as well as the other pokémon around." Drew said. "Who takes care of it?"

"That would be me." A voice said. I stood up and walked over to the person as best as I could and hugged him.

"Who's this?" Drew asked.

"Don't be jealous Drew; this is my dad's best friend and the gym leader in training for the new gym that's in the next city over." I said.

"May, nice to see you again, it's been 6 years." I nodded.

"Jeff, this is my boyfriend and coordinating partner, Drew."

"Ah, the famous coordinator Drew, I finally get the pleasure to meet you. I've seen your matches before on TV as well as heard a lot about you from May." Drew, as expected flipped his hair and shook Jeff's hand.

"May!" A woman said running over to me and was about to hug me but was stopped by Drew holding out his hand the woman fell to her feet. "Excuse me, who are you and who do you think you are?"

"I'm Drew and I think I'm the person protecting May." He said.

"From what?"

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes you, she just got out of the hospital today and her ribs are still weak with the force you'd at least knock her down causing damage to her spinal cord and ribs." Drew said flipping his hair.

"Oh, I'm so sorry May, and you too, Drew was it?" He nodded.

"It's alright; I was being stupid by not telling you too stop. Nice to see you Ginny." She smiled.

"Of course it's a pleasure to see you. Wait a minute, the Drew?" I nodded. "Yes!" She yelled dancing happily about the area with all of the pokémon.

Drew walked over to me, "Why's she so happy?"

"Cause she knows that this means that we're together."

"Obviously, but..."

"People around her on breaks and visits know all about my challenges against you and it's a well known fact to all people here that I like you."

"You're a celebrity or something?"

"Petalburg Gym's Norman's Daughter a famous pokémon trainer, my mom is Petalburg's top coordinator and I'm their daughter making me extremely famous and being from the home city they expect a lot of me, but I don't care. You can ignore them too, like always."

"Whatever." He said.

"I'm so so soooooo happy for you May, and you too Drew. I've never met you but you coordination skills and the way May talks about you I'm so glad to meet you." Ginny said.

"I'd recommend not hugging him." I warned.

"Okay, well I have to help Jeff tend the greenhouse, bye and take care." Ginny said running off.

"They a couple or married."

"Engaged," I said resting my head against Drew's shoulder and closing my eyes.

"You tired?" He asked.

"Not really, I'm just enjoying your company." He nodded.

"Let's sit." I nodded and sat next to him in the grass. I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Espeon," She called pointing at the top of the dome.

"What is it?" I asked.

"There's something coming." Drew said.

A heard a huge crash above it. "Rosélia, Espeon, Protect." He called to our two nearby pokémon. Surprisingly enough their combined efforts protected us.

"We're back!" Team Rocket said.

"Rosélia, petal dance." Drew said.

"Espeon try using Psychic to repair the dome." I said. Rosélia knocked them out and Espeon prepared the dome. "Good job guys." I said.

"It was great teamwork. I'm 100 percent sure that this break from coordinating won't mess with our skills." Drew said.

"I'm glad because I wouldn't want us to be wiped the floor with during our next contest."

"Neither would I, how embarrassing." Drew said.

"You bet." I said smiling.

"Espeon!" "Rosélia!" They called. I got to my knees and went over to them.

"Drew, they dome glass mini shreds got in them."

"Don't worry, Rosélia, heal." He said.

"What do I do?" I asked.

"I recommend using reflect but duck." I ducked to the ground and so did Drew. "Reflect." All the pieces bounced off and she seemed better than ever.

"What does reflect do?" I asked.

"It reflects the attack back but it in cases that there are things on it, it pushes them out, as if it was frozen, or caught in a web or such."

"That's a useful attack." I said. He pulled me to my feet then he kissed my cheek.

"We should go to bed, come on. Bye." He said to the pokémon. He took a hold of my hand and guided me back in the house. I smiled and I suppose this was going to be a good few weeks.


	10. ◊ How It Goes ◊

◊ (How It Goes) ◊

∆ (May's Living Room) ∆ - Φ (Drew) Φ - ¤ (2 Weeks Later) ¤

Surprisingly enough, hanging around May's place wasn't as awkward as I had expected it to be. Her parents treated me like part of the family, I wasn't like a guest, and well I was treated as one. I was, to say, like a family friend. Which in all honesty I was, I was a member of their family's friend, and I was May's friend.

May and I had thought up a lot of new moves and combinations in our spare time, and we spent most of our time, talking about our pokémon, or sitting and enjoying each other's company. It was as if that when I was with May; everything came together.

The doctor said that May was doing amazing in her recovery, twice as fast, they said maybe next week they'd allow her back to coordinating but no major danger amounts which meant that under no circumstances, could May get hurt. I took this as my job.

I sat down in the kitchen as I did every morning. I sat down and scratched down my agenda for the day. If I wasn't afraid to wake up someone, I would have gone upstairs to my room and retrieved my planner but I didn't.

I sat down, rested against the wall and closed my eyes. "Morning Drew," May said quietly. She had learned that I disliked talking and sound a lot. She also had the ability to get me to talk, no matter the occasion.

"Morning May, how did you sleep?"

"Great, it's a beautiful day today, what do you want to do?" I tossed her my agenda. She stuck out her tongue.

"Real mature," I responded.

"Eat breakfast, go shopping, make pokéblock, train with May, eat lunch, talk with May, ask her out to dinner and go to bed." May rolled her eyes. "This isn't exciting and isn't how one should take advantage of this glorious day, but I understand that you've got stuff to do."

I nodded and sat down at the table. May got up and started fixing breakfast for the family; she did this on occasions when her mom or father was sleeping in on their day off. "What are your plans for the day?"

"Make and eat breakfast, follow Drew around, eat lunch, talk with Drew, get asked out to dinner by Drew, and sleep." She answered smiling.

"Sorry you can't come with me shopping."

"Why not?" She asked confused.

"I'd rather go shopping by myself, sorry." I said.

"Nah, it's fine; you have to shop for clothing and whatever you need. I totally understand. I'll probably just walk about the gardens and stuff." She said walking around to various dishes on the table and checking on their status.

Eventually her parents' came down and ate with them. "We won't be at dinner tonight." May announced.

"How come?" My mom asked.

"Drew asked me out to dinner, sort of?" Her father looked at me confused.

I shrugged. "I handed her my agenda and it said that I was planning on asking her out, so she's just telling you ahead of time." They nodded, understanding.

"I made breakfast!" May announced to us, happily. May wasn't the best cook but in all honesty, she was a lot better then most people. She wasn't professional good but better then normal people were, above average.

"I'm glad because I was hungry." Her dad said.

"It smells delicious." I nodded, acknowledging her accomplishment.

"I'm glad. Here." She said setting our plates of food out on the table. She sat next to me, opposite her mother and we ate in silence.

"How are you doing?" Her dad asked.

"Great, I don't even need the medications anymore and only one week in comparison to two, the doctor said."

"That's good, that's at least 2, maybe 3 more contests and ribbons." She nodded.

"It also means I won't be hanging around the house bothering you and we get to show off all our new routines, right Drew?" I nodded.

"We have enough to use a different one in a contest everyday if they were that many, we have enough for the rest of the seasons at least." He answered.

"Definitely," She said. "I'm so excited!" She said jumping up when I laid my hand on her shoulder. She stuck out her tongue. "See you, when will you be back?"

"10ish, giving us two hours to perfect the routines before lunch." I nodded.

"Alright, see you then." She said kissing my cheek and I nodded and walked off.

"Bye." I said. It wasn't a far walk to the mall, but it was annoying. There were so many people. "Well isn't it Drew?" A voice said. "I haven't seen you in what, 7 years now." I turned around to meet the face of my stepmother of whom I disliked highly.

"Yes, it has been."

"Where is she, Drew?"

"Who?" I asked.

"You know very well who Drew… my daughter, your sister, Lily." I smirked.

"I'm not sure; she left with an agenda of her own. I haven't seen her the last two weeks."

"What are you doing here?" She asked angrily.

"I'm taking care of my girlfriend at her parents' place." I answered.

She laughed. "No really?" I smirked. "You actually got a girlfriend, a fan girl, a talent less loser. But anyway, like you could love?" I just smirked, even more.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Have you ever thought that I am capable of such and that I Lily left to help me get with her?"

"She hates you, why would she do that?" The woman, my stepmother said sticking her nose into the air.

"She loves me, she's concerned that it's impossible for me to love, but she helped me get with the girl I love, how about we meet up, the entire family minus Lily for dinner, you, dad, her and me?" I asked.

"I'd like to see this." She said.

"Fine, I'll alert her when I return home. Bye." I said walking off and waving behind me.

I went to the store, to a store that specialized in selling jewelry to be exact. "May I help you?" A woman asked.

"Sure Eve," I said referring to her name badge. "I'm looking for a necklace for my girlfriend." She smiled.

"All guys who come in here do, unless it's for their mom, fiancée or wife. That's all we ever get from guys." He shrugged and she set a case on the counter. "I believe these would spark your interest."

I nodded and looked at every piece carefully. I looked at this one. It was perfect. It was a completely silver necklace with a small pokéball on it with a blue stone as the pokéball eye. "I'd like that one." I said pointing to it.

"It's the most expensive we have here, it's a blue crystal, not sapphire." I nodded. I looked at the tag, pulled out a check, wrote the amount down, grabbed the necklace and walked out without another word. The case was white and I placed it gently in my pocket next to my empty pokéballs. I then went to the Pokéblock Center and made enough pokéblock to last a while. I returned home to be met with May going to open the door. I was caring 10 cases of pokéblock, 2 for each of my pokémon I had on me. Absol, Butterfree, Rosélia, Masquerain and Flygon.

"You sure have a lot of pokéblock." She said.

"Yeah sure, I guess." I answered. She took 4 or so cases and helped me take them to the refrigerator in the greenhouse where all the food was given out.

I sat down next to her on the bench. "There's a small change in plans for tonight."

"It's fine if we eat…" I placed my finger on her lips.

"I'm bringing you to meet my father and stepmother. I'm sorry…" She placed a finger on my lips and used her other hand to free hers.

"Its fine, I'm glad to meet them." I moved her hand.

"Don't expect them both to be respectful; at the most my dad might, my stepmother, not so much."

"If she's Lily's mom I expect a great person, maybe a bit weak minded but not disrespectful."

"Choose what you wish to believe, it's your choice."

"Do I have to dress up?"

"Your choice," I answered.

"Alright, I'm going out to buy a dress. I looked at my watch; it was only 8:30. I expected to be gone a while longer. I nodded; she kissed me and walked off.

I figured I'd have to find something to wear as well. I still couldn't believe that she was excited, happy to meet my family. She had met two of the three people in my family I could even slightly stand anymore, isn't that enough? Yet again, I knew her entire family. I picked out a plain white dress shirt and black pants to wear. It was nicely accented with anything May would pick out. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing her in a dress, ever. She usually wears shorts for travel. The only time I've seen her where something different was that night where she wanted to take me out dancing but still I don't think I've ever seen her anything extremely formal.

It was now 10 and I was wondering how long it would take her. I decided to take a walk in their greenhouse until then because when she does come she'd come here to train but I'm well aware that it takes time to shop for girls, from my sisters. Even though it was early on, Victoria was a teenager when I was younger and when she'd drag me along shopping it was horribly annoying. The point is; she can take her time.

A few minutes later I heard doors slam open and then there was thing resting on my back with their arms wrapped around me. "May, you ready?" She nodded and we went to the open training area in the greenhouse.

"Which one do you want to use first next week?" She asked.

"Pokémon wise I'd say Espeon and Absol since that's our newest combination."

"It really is a good choice, a Dark Pokémon and a Psychic Pokémon." She added.

"Yeah, it is. You choose the combination." She said.

"I like Razor Wind, Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Swift. That's the nicest one. It'll make a good surprise entrance into the contest stages again."

"Alright, I agree, that's one of the best ones we have." We called Espeon and Absol over and we practiced, we had practiced many hours before but now it was up to us to help our pokémon perfect it.

"Drew, May, phone call." I looked at May. Who wouldn't call our cell phones? We walked over to the phone, May sat down and I stood behind her.

"Ash and I got our last badge sis." Max said. May was happy.

"That's amazing, that's faster then you guys have ever gone." She said.

"When are the finals?" I asked.

"3 months, we finished quickly. Do you think mom will mind if Lily and Ash hang at our house till then." May turned around. Her mom shook her head.

"No, mom doesn't mind." May said.

"Good, we'll be arriving tonight, alright."

"Wait, tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah, we have been traveling non stop except for contests for the last two weeks. Lily surprisingly has 2 ribbons and she's going to do some more in our area." May nodded.

"Well, see you soon." She hung up and I turned around to meet my face. "What's up with you?" She asked.

"My stepmother blames me for Lily's disappearance. So Max and Lily are going to need to join us as well." May smiled.

"Good, I don't mind. Do you?"

"Not particularly but their presences aren't going to make the dinner any more pleasant, most likely less pleasant." May sighed.

"Why do you think they hate you?"

"My dad doesn't hate me, he just figures I'm… well… disrespectful and a disgrace to the family."

"How come?"

"I left my little sister in the middle of some city when I went to become a coordinator."

"I see, but I understand. If I had to compete against Max in contests and travel with him, I'd probably tell mom I was leaving him, and leave. Yet again if I didn't respect him or my parents, I would probably just disappear. I understand either way where you're coming from." I nodded.

After lunch was served to both us, and our pokémon May; May and I sat down in a bench in the greenhouse. "You don't seem nervous." I said.

"About what?"

"Meeting my family, most people would be in this situation."

"Nah, it's not my nature to be nervous about meeting people." She said.

"Then that's enough said, I'm glad you're not nervous. That's a good sign."

"Of what?"

"That everything is going well in the relationship."

The laughed. "Even I could have told you that, Drew." I rolled my eyes and put my arm around her. "After all it's not like we were forcibly put together, this was a relationship that was welcomed, much like our partnership in contests."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It almost too good to believe that we actually got together, but I have my proof right here, with you sitting next to me."

"Yep, this is no dream. I like not having to worry about waking up?" I raised my eyebrow and looked at her. She smiled back and rested her head on my shoulder. "It's a really great relationship because we're both very happy."

"One day I'll take you to see my mom; you'll really like to meet her. She's more like Victoria, kind, gentle, polite…"

"Like you?" I shrugged.

"I guess."

She nodded. "Just like you." She said emphasizing the personality traits of me.

Soon it was time to head over to dinner at the restaurant, I had called in and reserved a table for 6. May had already explained the events to Max and Lily who had agreed to come. Max didn't figure it was a good thing to go along but Lily had begged and he came. They promised to meet us there on time. Max said he would go shopping for something to wear and Lily likewise. They were in town; we just hadn't seen them yet.

I took a shower, and got dressed in my formal attire that I had picked out this morning. I came down the stairs to see may in a beautiful floor length light blue dress that fit her beautifully, it was held up on small straps and light blue sleeves down her arms. She turned around and I smiled. She blushed and looked around the room.

"You look perfect." I said.

"Thanks Drew, is it time to go?" She asked me. I nodded. "Let's go then."

"Drew, here." May's father tossed me the keys to his car.

"Thanks." I said. The restaurant was a bit farther then expected so it was great that I could drive there. I had only about a few months ago got my license. I didn't use it much, not having a car but I could drive if need be.

We arrived and I helped her out of the car after we parked. "May, Drew, hey." Max said to us.

"You been here long?" May asked.

"Only a few minutes, you look beautiful May." Lily said. I looked at her; she was wearing a red dress that was down to her knees.

"You look nice too Lily." May said.

"Thanks, ready to go in?"

"They here?" I asked speaking my first words since we arrived.

"No, but they will. Here they come." Ellen, my stepmother and Kane, my dad stepped out.

"Lily, you're here!" She said running over to her and hugging her. She turned to look at me and glared.

"Oh yeah, Mom, this is May, Drew's girlfriend, and Max, my date for the evening." She nodded taking note of everything Lily said carefully. She turned to look at May. May looked nervous, though May was never one to be nervous until she was on stage.

"Hello, I'm May. It's a pleasure to meet you." May said as gently as she could after finishing bowing.

"Likewise May, I'm sure you've never met Drew's father, Kane." May shook her head and bowed again.

"I'm glad I can meet finally get to meet you. Drew and I have been busy for a while so it's great to have a chance to meet you." May say smiling.

"Yes, it is, I'm surprised that you live so near to us after we've just recently moved." May nodded.

"What's your full name, May?"

"May Adena," May said.

"So I was right, you are the same May that Drew mentioned on one of our conversations a few years ago. The one who was a gym leader's daughter. I never talk to Drew much but it's great to finally meet someone who has been with my son over the years." May was quite happy. I was too. I wouldn't have figured that he would have made the connection but yet again, he is quite smart so I guess it was to be expected. I was glad they weren't being mean to either of us.

"I think it's about time we head in to the restaurant." I said.

"Yeah, someone could get sick in this weather without a jacket." Max added.

"It is getting a lot colder, since the sun is setting and all." May said looking toward the sunset. May and I lead in followed by Max and Lily as well as my parents.

We sat down at the table with Max and Lily across from May and I. My parents on the end. "So Max, where do you live?" My dad asked.

"I live here, with May when I'm not traveling." They gasped. "Sorry I didn't explain properly. I'm May's brother, Max Adena." The nodded understanding the mistake.

"That's nice, so you travel with whom?" My dad asked.

"Currently we're taking a break since we collected all our badges, Ash Ketches and I but now, I'm going to be traveling alongside Lily for the next months to help her get her next 3 badges." They nodded understanding where she had been.

"So she has two?" My stepmother said.

"Yeah, she's struggled a bit starting up, lost her first one but since she's hasn't been in the contest circuit for a while, it's understandable." Max said.

"I'm glad." He said. "How are your contest ribbon collection going, shouldn't you be working on it?"

"May is healing from a past accident during our contests but we have three and will be returning next week to coordinate, again." I explained. A waiter came, we all ordered and then he left.

"How was she hurt?" My stepmother asked concerned.

"One of our attacks hit the enemy, but the explosion was so widespread it knocked me into a wall. I was temporarily blinded for a few days prior to that and up until that so it was hard for me to know what was going on."

"That must have been hard."

"No, not all really, it was actually a lot easier to coordinate. Competing wasn't as enjoyable but Drew helped me through it all, every second of the way. He has saved me two times in accidents involving my sight, no wait it's three." She said. I smiled and her confusion it was very interesting.

"That's surprising." Dad said.

"How so?" She asked.

"Well, for the longest time Drew was spacious to everyone, even his own family and for him to become this close to someone is really surprising."

"I don't think so; he just wanted to do things his own way. He wanted his own independence; I figure that I would do the same thing if I was in his situation."

"Hm?" My stepmother asked.

"It's really easy to understand, he was bringing around with him, his sister. At early times, he was coordinating against her, so one of his rivals had access to everything he did before, all his moves and such, giving them both a hard way to move on."

◊

"I understand." He said.

"Not only that but he was trying to do something for himself, to become a top coordinator and with her there it made it impossibly to win and he was being held down by his sister. If Max had been a coordinator also when I began traveling, I probably would have gone separate ways too." She said.

This came unexpected; they seemed to be understanding of the whole events. I didn't expect this at all. I would definitely have to thank May for this later. "Mom, may I be excused?" Lily asked.

They didn't say anything. Lily looked to me. I nodded and she walked off to the bathroom. Nothing was said for quite a long time, and worst of all, Lily must have been hurt. "Um May, would you mind talking to Lily?" I asked.

"Of course not," She got up and went to the bathroom. I sat there.

"Don't you think my sister was a bit harsh?" Max asked.

"I don't think harsh, but brutally honest was a true statement. But yet again, they needed to be told this." I looked to my mother and father who stared down at their meals which had just been set down. They looked as if May's words hadn't been told to them countless times. I had tried to explain the same thing to them, many times before. They refused to hear the logic of my statements hearing it from someone else made it seem ow too real.

May returned with Lily by her side. May had comforted her and Lily was going to cry but seemed to not be able to hold it her emotions. "I'm sorry, Drew." She said and then everything went back to normal.

"I'm sorry too son." My dad said. "I wish I would have listened to what you said, and then maybe, we would have got along better.

"Sorry Drew, I didn't mean to be that mean to you yesterday."

"You're all forgiven; I've always forgiven your trespasses on me. However, what you said to me yesterday was quite honest; Lily told me the same thing. But then again, that stage was over 7 years ago." They nodded.

"Eh?" May asked.

"You know Lily and Victoria's theory about me never being able to love, it's actually a wide spread theory in their side of the family." May nodded, understanding what I meant.

"I thought so too for a while, that's why I figured that it would never happen between us, that and the fact that it took a huge push to get there." I said.

"Yeah, Ash says Misty does that a lot." Max added.

"I'm super glad that you two have each other." Lily said so happily.

"I am too." I said gently. May smiled and nodded as well.

Dinner went a lot better and faster then I would have expected or hoped. My parents enjoyed May's company much as I did. My stepmother was glad to see that Lily was fine and noticed her attraction to May's brother, Max.

May seemed to love talking with my parents. Yet again, May loved talking with anyone. "So Lily's having Christmas with your family?" My stepmother asked.

"Yeah, Drew and Victoria are as well. If you don't mind of course." May added, politely.

"Of course not May, I'm sure they'll all be happy to spend the holidays with you and your family." My dad said.

"So what are you doing after the coordinating season is over, since the partner coordinating is only during the summer?" My stepmother asked.

"May and I plan to take a college acceptance exam, if we score above it, then we'll think of something else but if we don't meet the requirements, then we've decided to go to college."

"That seems like a wonderful idea." Lily said.

"I guess, I predict that we'll pass it. Meaning we'll need a new plan." I added.

"Yeah, I don't think I want to hang around a college anyway." May said. "But if don't meet the expectations of colleges then it would be best to go."

"I agree." I said.

The meal was finished and everyone went separate ways besides Lily and Max who stayed with us since we were all going the same place. I drove everyone home and I realized that Lily and Max had fallen asleep while May had fallen asleep on me which wasn't extremely safe since I was driving but it was fine since we had now arrived home.

"Max…" I called quietly. He opened his eyes.

"Yeah Drew?" He asked.

"Can you take Lily up to one of the guest bedrooms while I grab May?" I asked.

"Sure," He said quietly. We brought the girls in quietly as to not wake up their parents.

I took May up to her bedroom and sat her in her bed, covering her up with the blankets. I quietly left.

"Drew?" She mumbled opening her eyes and sitting up.

"Yeah," I responded.

"Can we see your mom on Tuesday?" She asked. "I'd like to meet her before we return to coordinating since it could be a while before we get another chance to."

"I'm not sure."

"I'm pretty sure that Victoria's there too. It's the place that you'd least likely to go right?"

"Yeah."

"So why not?"

"May, I really don't have good relations with my family."

"Not that's not true, you told me about her. She seemed one to be glad to see you again, right?"

"Yeah but, I'm not sure how'd she react if I just showed up again, one day."

"I'm sure she'd be happy to see you. I know it."

I sighed. "I'm just not sure May."

"You wouldn't happen to be scared, are you Drew?" Even when she's half-asleep she can still argue with me, great.

"No, I just don't want to show up after all these years. I'm not sure how'd she'd react. Especially after how I upset Victoria."

"Are you concerned about if she still loves you the same?" May asked trying understanding me.

"No, it's just that I don't want to upset her."

"Hm, how so?"

"She cried herself to sleep every night for a month when dad divorced her, then another one when she found out that she'd be leaving me."

"You don't want to hurt her." I nodded.

"I don't want to bring up emotions in her that will make her cry. I don't like seeing anyone close to me cry." May smiled.

"That's nice but if she cries I'm sure it'll be because she's happy to see you. Please?" May asked.

"Can we talk about this tomorrow, I need to think about." I asked back.

"Of course, night Drew." I nodded, and walked off.

A/N: Sorry it's late, I got out of school yesterday and I figured that I could take my time and make it nice instead of sloppily by the end of the day.


	11. ◊ Hours of Visitation ◊

◊ (The Hours of Visitation) ◊

∆ (In the Car) ∆ - ¤ (Next Day) ¤ - VP: May

I was super excited to meet Drew's mom. If she's anything like Drew said she said she would be, which is just like him then this should be a great experience. I'm sure inertly he's happy to see her too. I just which he's be a little more happy on the outside. Yet again, we're talking about Drew.

"How much farther?" I asked.

"Not far May," I nodded. It was a good few days walk from his mom's to my house. I was glad that dad let us take the car. It was still about 3 hours drive. We had brought clothes just in case it got to be too late and we needed to get hotel rooms or she invited us to stay the night. I hoped it was the latter.

We finally arrived and I climbed out of the car. Drew just kept looking at it. "Is it the same as it used to be?" I asked.

"Sadly, no." He said.

"Then how so has it changed?" I asked.

"It has a lonelier, sadder appeal to it. It used to be a beautiful well cared for home, the envy of all neighbors." He explained.

"It use to be… how many years ago?" A Girl said behind us smiling.

Drew stared her down. "You know her?" I asked.

"I'm not sure. I remember people of significance and importance to me. If I don't remember her there must be no connection between us."

The girl sighed and walked over to me. She took my hand in her two hands and shook mine. "I'm Crystal Macy, who are you? Drew's girlfriend?" She asked.

I nodded. "I'm May Adena." A smile came to the girl's face and here eyes widened.

"I've heard so much about you and Drew here. It's been so long since you left Drew but everyone around here knows everything you've done since you left." She said smiling.

"That's good, it sounds like my hometown." I said smiling.

"Most towns are quite proud of their accomplished reps.," She said. I nodded.

"So how are you doing Drew?" She said turning to him and place her hands on her hips. This was a sign that she was somewhat disappointed in his lack of visitation here.

"Fine, I believe." He said.

"Always short on words weren't you?" He shrugged.

"My mom home?" He asked.

"She never leaves the house. You didn't come here just to look at the house did you?"

"Not really, May wanted to meet my mom before we went back to coordinating. So, here we are." He said.

"You're mean to your mom Drew. She along with Victoria and most likely May here, are the only ones who understand you." She scolded him.

"I'm here aren't I?" He answered.

"Not by choice, May asked you but nonetheless, you are here. So go visit." She commanded.

"Fine." He said. "Come on May." I waved to the girl and walked off.

"Bye." I called. Drew flipped his hair and continued to walk. "You should try treating all people a little better."

"You just think that because now you know that I have the ability to be more the fair to people." He responded. I sighed; he isn't the easiest nut to crack.

"Fine, let's just go in." I said.

He walked up to the door and knocked on it. The door was opened by a woman who had long green hair eyes. She was wearing a purple kimono and her hair was long but put up into a bun. She looked exactly like Drew. It was amazing, not surprising seeing it was his mother but amazing the resemblance.

"Come on in." She said calmly. It seemed so disfigured, her voice that is. She didn't make motions of someone seeing their long lost relative or signs of joy in seeing her son which is even closer a bond. She simply said 'come on in' not even with a tone that one would great a neighbor. It showed no emotions, it was scared, sad, and scornful. Drew seemed the same way since his eyes fell upon the house. "Sit down if you please yourself." She answered.

I got it; she was being as mild tempered as she can. The attitude of only someone who was doing everything in her power not to do anything to insult or upset us. She was afraid of our departure. More alike, she didn't want Drew to leave her.

"Thanks you…" I paused; I was not informed as to how I was to greet her. Good job May, you try to make conversation and you can't manage two words.

"Now a day I'm called Ms. Daniela Martina." She told me with a gentle smile still trying to see how I'd react."

"Well thank you so much for welcoming us Ms. Martina." I said as politely as I could.

"You're very welcome May." I was surprised, she knew me, and she knew my name. I looked to Drew; it was all too hard, all too scary. He needed to help me. He smirked and nodded. What was he nodding about? I just wanted to scream.

There was a long awkward silence between us all. I couldn't think of what to say, say something at least May! "You keep track of the contests?"

"Yes I do, I love them very much." I smiled happily. She probably coordinated too. That's where Drew got his skill from, his mom.

"So you've been a coordinator before?" She nodded. "Did you win a ribbon cup?" I asked excitedly.

"Yes, would you like to see it?" She asked. Yes, she was beginning to open up. Yes. She and I looked to Drew who nodded and I nodded back. "Alright then, excuse me as I go to retrieve it." Long complicated phrases for simple things, she's a lot like Drew, so much it really is scary. He doesn't seem to be anything like his father.

She came back and handed it to me carefully. I treated it as carefully. It was beautiful. I had never seen a cup like this one; it had ribbons all around it, 10 of them. Those must have been the qualifier ribbons she tied to them, but why 10. "Excuse me, but why are there 10 ribbons?" I asked.

"Well you see, I only coordinated individually for 2 years. I didn't think it was my calling because I didn't see as much beauty in what I did as others did. I always figured that I was never good enough, I had never lost a contest but I lost in the finals at the last round because I figured there was no way I could win, I had no confidence. Then… well… I went to the pairing matches with someone… competed and won with them."

"Who was your partner?" I asked interested. Drew snorted obviously knowing the answer having heard it before.

"Drew's father,"

"That's interesting he didn't seem like the coordinating type." She looked down and shook her head. "Hm?" I asked.

"My father died May." Drew stated. I gasped. Man May, you messed up major this time.

"It's alright May, no one talks about it. Well I won the grand contest there and the ribbon cup is given to the top coordinating pair." I nodded. "I owe him for our win though. I would have left if not for him. I didn't have the confidence to go out in front of the people as a team. He told me that why start small, we went to the top pair coordinating contests and won the 10 we competed in, all in a row, in one month we had one all 10 ribbons, twice as many as were required. We were unstoppable because, my shy nature caused the way I displayed my pokémon and myself to steer clear of contests with many people. Coordinating wasn't very popular to watch then, now it is but it wasn't so when I saw that many people. I would well just run away crying, I was super scared. He was one who was a leader, a caring, take charge kind of guy and we won because of how he took care of me."

"It reminds me of Drew and me." Drew smiled and so did she. I think I'm doing well, at least I hope I am.

"Well that's it."

"I sure hope we do that well, we've worked really hard and I feel truly bad that because of my accident we missed 3 weeks." Drew placed a hand on mine which was next to my leg.

"It's alright though, we'll win the next ones we still have a month and a week, we have more then enough time to get our next two ribbons and more." I nodded.

"Thanks Drew," his mom was smiling happily.

"I felt the same way when we returned after my… hospitalization during that period." I looked at her.

"Why?" I asked.

"I was pregnant and gave birth right before the season started. We were married a year prior to that. The doctors wouldn't allow me to compete for 2 months and I felt horrible but he said I had no reason to. He said we'd write down routines and the when I was allowed to do it again we'd master them all in one night, when Victoria was asleep. Then we'd go for one month and win all the contests."

"And you did." I said amazed. She nodded.

"Yes, we did." She said smiling. "I know you to will too. I've seen your combinations, talent and teamwork, it's superb. The best contests I've seen have been ones you've been together but by far you two are much better when you work together." She said smiling happily.

"Thank you." I said. Drew nodded in gratitude of her kind words.

"Mom, I'm sorry." Drew said finally taking courage to talk to his mother. The only things he had said today were directed at me. "I haven't visited or came to saw you. I really am." He said.

"It's alright Drew, honestly you weren't allowed until your 16th birthday anyway since you were under your father's custody and he got a restraining order against it." I was surprised who would marry someone and hate her so much as to divorce her like that. I want to know, but that would be rude.

I clenched my fists, it hurt so much to understand the pain they both suffered because of her father's mistakes. Drew looked at me understanding what I was thinking about this. He placed a hand on mine and nodded but shook his head. He meant, he knew what I was thinking but I shouldn't ask. "I'm still so sorry. Honestly, I wasn't told I couldn't visit you so my not visiting wasn't because that, it was because after I left. I became separate from everyone and everything."

"I understand, so have I. Victoria and Lily told me that you've been apart from it all."

"Have you seen Victoria lately?" He asked.

"No, she woke up a month ago and after calling someone she grabbed her bags and left. She said 'I need to take care of my baby brother, bye.' I nodded and left." Drew looked down not because of the embarrassment but because he knew that, he had caused problems.

"I felt… alone, like no one could possibly understand me, like me. I was like so different from anything I had ever felt before. I didn't feel how I use to. I was lonely without love and then it was just so hard to face knowing that I had been left with him, without true care. It hurt. I needed to escape. Then I just couldn't find that feeling for so long, and when I did. It seemed truly unreachable."

"Huh?" She asked not quite understanding. He squeezed my hand.

"I remembered how caring for someone else felt, worrying about something other than yourself. The only time I had felt like that since I was with you was with my pokémon. I figured I could never care about another person again, because they'd hurt me. Then I met May and she showed me that she cared about me regardless of whether I cared about her, and eventually I realized that I needed to take steps to be with her. But still it seemed so hard."

"But you are, so how? Did you?" She asked.

"No, Lily, Victoria as well as one of May's friends got fed up our feelings of hopeless togetherness and pushed us together." I smiled and she smiled at me.

"I'm glad because that's what you needed. I didn't think that was what Victoria was doing when she left. You seemed so happy in most of your contests." He nodded.

"I was, I had my pokémon to take care of, to protect and be proud of but it was so lonely all the other times. Lily took it hard when she realized that I couldn't love her as much as I loved my true family."

"I understand what you mean." I said to him. "The fact that she wasn't always there for you. You're not sure how you feel about her, and then you realize that you care, it's just a question of to what degree."

"How did you know?"

"That's how I felt about you. I had only loved and been loved by people who had always been there for me. It was a new concept to me to love something that I had always known, to trust them. Which is why I was easily tricked my Harley all those times, I couldn't figure out if it was safe to trust him. Love is just the highest extent of friendship. It's a level not a new feeling you create." I said.

"Yeah, I get that now. I couldn't figure out why I cared about how you were doing, if I saw you again, if you were sick and stuff. It just didn't make sense because I didn't care about other people like that. I could care less about most of those I met but you were different and I was confused." He said.

"Love is an unusual thing, you see. You trust the person to never hurt you by knowing that you care about them and them not being hurt. It's a huge mistake to give trust to a person who doesn't care about you back because you just end up being hurt." She said looking down at the floor. "The pain of unreturned feelings is never much because you can't feel love without it cares from both sides. Normal feelings for people disappear and can be ignored. Love can't because it hurts you when they hurt, when they're gone you long for their return."

"Do you have any other words of encouragement for Drew and my start into our new form or relationship?" I asked.

"Hm… not that I can think of. I've seen it on live television the trust you have for one another, the love and care. Your relationship is 100 bound to succeed May, Drew. You have no worries. I only warn you, not to allow yourselves to be tricked into thinking that what you feel for each other is anything different then what it really is, which love is." We nodded. "I'm glad you guys have each other. Love is something everyone needs after all." I smiled.

"Thank you so much."

"Mom, I'm sorry for not visiting." Drew apologized again.

"Think nothing of it." I burst out into laughter.

"I'm sorry; I can't hold it in any longer. You guys act exactly alike. It's not even different at all. I can't find the difference. You're so alike, personality wise." I said laughing. Drew and she both stiffened laughing too. I'm not sure if it's at me or at them as I am. Most likely, it's my stupidity again.

After a while, we calmed down again and began to talk as if we were family. "So May, how are you doing after your accident?" She asked.

"I'm doing a lot better, it was supposed to be another week but it turns out, it's only 3 weeks. I healed extra fast."

"And how about your pokémon?" She asked.

"They were amazing. Luckily both Drew and I recalled them right after the blow so they weren't hurt or injured but we had them checked out as well." I said.

"I love your choices of pokémon and how well they work together as well as suiting you. Your combinations are just spectacular; I've never seen anything like them. I was especially surprised when May still competed when she went blind. That's pure determination for you." I smiled and nodded.

"I wouldn't have been able to if not for Drew though, he led me around the place, helped me train my other senses with a gym leader. He guided me around the place. Stopped me from walking into lakes, cliffs, and such things. He saved me from a lot of unexpected accidents." I said smiling.

"It wasn't anything much." He said.

"It was a lot and it was very important to me that you'd help me." He shrugged. Drew will never change.

"Drew, I was very proud of your care and protection of May throughout the last few contests. It was very polite and something I was glad to see." His mom said.

"Yeah, thanks, I guess." She rolled here eyes.

"Can't you ever be a little more reactive to things that are going on?" She asked practically yelling.

He smirked. "Like you?"

"Drew…" I said. "That was so uncalled for." I said. Everyone burst out in laughter.

"It's quite alright May." She said.

"I don't think it is. Well, I'm going to make lunch." I said.

"It's not necessary May, I will."

"Not because, I am." I said nodding both Drew and his mom were giving me weird expressions. I got up and walked into the kitchen while making a lunch for them. I listened on their conversation secretly. I would have guessed they'd know me to do that, or do they care? Hm. I don't care I'm just listening.

"May's really special Drew. She's the kind of girl I'd figure you'd like."

"How so?" He asked in response.

"She's more open to people, a real problem solver who is friendly and kind natured to everyone. People tend to fall in love with those who are 50 different then them because the person has something they don't. It was just a matter of time until you find the missing half of you who's name happens to be May." I smiled. They're talking about me.

"I guess that's true, in some aspect me and May have different thoughts. Yet again, it most we don't. We agree on most things, just the details are different."

"That is the makings for an amazing relationship. A perfect one if I do say myself." I can imagine Drew smiling.

"Yeah, it really is. It's been perfect since we got together. I just don't get why we were colliding some much when we were just friends."

"It was just the start. It's all focus, you focused on what their faults were or that they were your rival. Once you get over that, you jump on the opportunity to complete yourself."

"I understand that. Since I really got to know May, I've wanted to date her but."

"I know you're afraid of being rejected. I think everyone in the world goes through that at least once some lucky of those only once some millions and millions of times. Some they never do. Someone who they've spent their whole life just eventually moves to it without a second word but sometimes those are the most difficult. Sometimes meeting a random person and asking them out is easier but there always is the fear of rejection."

"For you and my dad?" He asked. Drew and I have the same mindset. I wanted to know too.

"That was one crazy fear. We had just met and we were both heading to the partner contests. However, of course neither of us would admit to the other that we'd do it perfectly together. However luckily someone signed us up, but back then if you were signed up, you were signed up, there was no way out, we had 3 years before they'd start up again. Since it was every 4 years thing, well we got to know each other, lived with each other, and eventually we became inseparable. We competed in normal practice pair contests, until the real deal came. We were great but since they weren't real we had no way of seeing who would win if it were real. It was us in the end though."

"Then what?" He asked as interested as I was.

"Well about four months after we met, he took me on casual dinners every night. It was weird at first; I thought it was his way of saying would you like this to be a date?" I silently laughed. Drew did the same thing. "Then I realized he was afraid to ask me out. So I said. Do you consider these dinners dates? After a while, he answered, "If you want them to." I laughed, just like drew.

"So eventually?"

"By the end of the third year of living together he asked me to marry him, I accepted, we got married a few months later. And then so on from there with the rest of our lives." She said.

"That seems like an ideal way to go." I'm sure she nodded and smiled as if Drew would.

"May you need help?" She asked. I looked at the sandwiches and such. Surprisingly, they were done. Huh? I don't remember finishing, whatever.

"No, I'm done. Come on in." I called back. They walked in the kitchen and I laid the sandwiches. Surprisingly I was right in guessing his mom liked the same kind of sandwiches as he did. No one said anything but with the way she looked not surprised and happy seeing them as it had been forever or something since she's had them. I figured I was right.

"May, these sandwiches are superb." She said complimenting them.

"Thanks, I learned from my friend Brock, he's a pokémon breeder so he makes not only our pokémon's food when I was traveling with them but our food as well and one summer day he taught me how as well." She smiled.

"Cooking is the one skill everyone needs, especially when you're going to the pair coordinating because you don't have enough time to stop every meal for lengths of time. It's useful."

"Yeah, that's why when I planned on coordinating independently; I asked that he'd teach me how to cook. It's not something I've needed to use much but it's a good skill to have." I answered.

"You haven't cooked much. I didn't think it polite to ask you to."

"Don't worry about; I did cook a bit for my family but not more much than that. This is the first time that I've cooked for anyone other then my family and you." I answered him.

"Hm, it's really good." I smiled.

"Thanks." I answered back.

"About Victoria, you don't know where she is either?" His mom asked.

"No, sorry." Drew said.

"I don't either. She left us notes but none included her location. I figured she'd return here, if anywhere." I said.

"You would think." She said back.

"I think we should just wait until the time is right, then she'll show up again." I nodded.

"I hope you're right Drew. I hope she didn't do anything crazy." I said.

"She's not like that. She is probably just in the forest thinking. Drew and Victoria did that a lot when they were thinking or upset." His mom said.

"I still do a lot of the time."

"Yeah, you are hard to find."

"You just don't look in the right places." I sighed, great.

"Well, are you guys going to spend the night? I'm more than glad to have you." She said. I looked to Drew looked indecisive.

"I guess we can. We brought clothes since it's a decent distance away from home and it's late. If it's not imposing or anything."

"Of course not. Drew will show you to the guest room, and he'll take the other one." I nodded and followed Drew to the room. We settled in for the night. He walked into the doorway and leaned against the wall.

"I've already told my mom that I'm going to turn in for the night. So I'm going to head in alright?" I nodded and smiled. He faintly smiled back.

I got up and walked over to him. I kissed his cheek. "Night Drew," I said then walking into the living room where his mom was sitting looking at a picture frame. I came up behind her. She wasn't startled. She turned to look at me giving a faint smile.

"Hi May, you need something?"

"No, just want to talk some more."

"Oh, that's good."

"Yeah, so what's that a picture of?" I asked.

"Oh, Drew's father, him, Victoria and me when I hosted the partner festival in the end of the summer. It's a great event to be apart of. It brings everyone who's there together." I smiled. "Drew was about 5 and Vicky is 10. About 2 years later, their father died. 2 more and I married him. He divorced me a year after that sadly taking Drew from me. I didn't make sense when they were legally not related to him but the law said it was fair. It wasn't to me."

"I agree, Drew had no relationship to him yet had to be stuck with him. I see it from both ways through both your eyes and it seemed to be perfect just before then, then it was horrible." She nodded hugging the picture to her chest.

"I messed up our family. I figured they needed a father. I rushed it, and he figured that I needed it to. I didn't think any harm would do because of it. He was younger then me by about 6 years and soon he left me, for another women; taking Drew with him."

"It seems like a disaster for both of you." She nodded.

"It's alright now. I want to thank you." I was confused.

"Why?" I asked.

"For bringing my son back to me. I'm not stupid May; I know that Drew wouldn't come to me by his own will. It did take a bit of prodding to get him here, didn't it?" She asked.

"Yeah, I guess, a bit. I think he needed it, and I was glad to meet you. You were the only person who I figured knew Drew because besides Victoria, no one I have met has."

"You know him much better then you think you do. I can tell. I'm just so glad that he came back to me."

" Victoria said the same thing however you understand that we have to leave right?"

"Of course, I know that you two belong together and my love for him is only as his mother. I can't keep him here; I'd be a horrible mom if I tried. He belongs with you, he needs you more then he and you know. Victoria and Lily didn't understand that did them, when they got you together that is?"

"No, they didn't. They wanted Drew to come home with them. He was a bit harsh about it. He told them that you couldn't expect him when he finally got together with me and was happy to be dragged away from it, or something quite close to that. Lily was devastated and so was Victoria."

"I figured. Victoria needs her baby brother who was taken from her back and Lily needs the older brother figure that left her. They want that back. They want his love but they can't have that back like they need it."

"I'm glad you're happier." I said.

"Me too, I'm so happy to see Drew again. It's been a while. Almost 7 years, of course I knew what was going on with him, more then his legal guardian, his father. I've known about all his contests, and travels. It's easy to keep track of him when he's on TV constantly." I nodded. "It's not only him I watch but you're contests are ones I enjoy watching, the magnificent combinations were a sight. I figured that Drew liked you, it was obvious."

"I don't see how it was. I guess with the flowers but how could even you know?"

"Even though it's not much when you go against him in matches, it doesn't matter who won you guys were like competing together, it was a match for the ages. The way you conduct yourself sends out signals about how you relate to others, and that's just how it was interpreted." She answered.

"I never though of it like that." She nodded.

"I'm really glad that Drew finally got himself a girlfriend. It wouldn't surprise me if in a some years that you two got married, it wouldn't surprise me at all." I smiled.

"I would love to spend my life with Drew, but who knows in some years. I'm glad that I got to be with Drew. He's great. He's not the most talkative person but he says what's important to be said. He's like that and it's not as if I don't understand him, I do. It's fine. He's great to me and it's great to be with him. It makes me really happy."

"Well that's what love is supposed to feel like May. I'm glad that you're happy though, that's always good. I remember how it feels though it seems to be fading further each day." I smiled; bringing memories back to her was good, not bad at all. You were wrong Drew, but I'm glad you were.

"It's an amazing feeling. However, can you talk about Drew's father to me? I'd like to know what he was like." She smiled.

"I guess but only a little. He was confident beyond reason, he thought he could do anything, he was perfect, in his eyes, he thought he was the best, and over all that's how he was during contests. No one but I ever posed a threat and he despised me for it. He couldn't take that I was just as good as him, he didn't think I deserved it."

"Reminds me a little of Drew," She nodded.

"He was a great guy, reliable, helpful, kind, cocky, sensitive, and caring and what especially drew me to him was his amazingly funny way of talking to everyone." She stopped and thought hard. "It's like an ability to sum up what would normally take someone millions of words into just a few. He made everything, all the problems of anything simple, as if it was all clear to him, you understand?"

"Yeah, Drew does the same thing. When I'm struggling to get a point through to someone, he skips through it and says it straight to them. He feels that you shouldn't waste time there is always something that you could be doing to make use of life. He has all the answers."

"Exactly, that's what he was like. Everyone says Drew is like me but personality wise he's like his father. I act just as Drew does because I adapted to how his father did so it makes it seem like he's like me but really, I changed. I'm nothing like I really was. I was shy and afraid to be in big places, I had low confidence and needed compliments and to be cared for, he did that so we were good to go."

"That's how I am. I always have Drew or another one of my friends to take care of me. I don't know what I'd do without Drew now days. I'm just glad to have him around."

"Trust me; there will be a day when his existence is more then a reward on its own. It will become a necessity to yourself, your mind, soul will beg for him, and that is because you love him. It may sound depressing or pathetic to some but everyone longs for something and like most normal people, you long for companionship, love, and care which Drew can give you. Well it's late; we should return to bed, goodnight May." I nodded. She talks much more then Drew does. I wonder if his dad did, that was a good conversation.

I took a shower, got into my pajamas and laid down in bed. I wonder if love is really like that. If someone would have told me that soon I would long for Drew's companionship, love and care I would have laughed at them, and walked away. Now, it's something that I can see and understand. It's coming, and coming soon." I sighed, of course, it is, and I should expect it. Moreover, welcome it with open arms.


	12. ◊ May and Drew Take the Stage ◊

◊ (Drew and May Take the Stage) ◊

∆ (Lazio Region) ∆ - ¤ (A Few Days Later) ¤ - Φ (Drew) Φ

We were back in the Lazio Region, amazingly enough, my mother had offered us her car to use in all our journeying. She did this since she believed May shouldn't have to walk that much while she was continuing to recover. I thanked her for this since it would help us out a lot.

We had just arrived and we were settling in a room in the nearest pokémon center. This was a weird named town, Excalibur. It had a main theme, everything was gold, the buildings set up to all look like castle. The rooms looked like those used in castles, quite fancy and well done.

May and I had decided to share a room since it wasn't uncomfortable like it would have been before we started dating, or got together; whatever you want to call it. I didn't leave her side many times; if I do, it wasn't for long. It was for normal needs, like changing clothes, feeding our pokémon and other common things like that.

Many of our competitors are surprised to see us back. We've already got a few minor challenges on or hand. May met with two girls Sepia and London who were sisters competing together in the contest that arrived the weak after us, they bet us a ribbon that they'd win, we agreed. We'd have two if we lost, but we wont' but we'll have 5 if we win, which we will. Thus making the bet, the best thing for us right now.

Harvey hadn't competed since we left except for the previous two contests, which he won I heard in the paper. We were surprised to find that his partner was Soledad. I was in shock, but not as much as she was finding out that, we were competing together. We meaning of course, May and I. She was surprised. I would have thought she would be up-to-date on these things, but apparently not.

"A hem, I know you know Soledad, Drew but I changed partners after my partner loss and I haven't lost since I partnered up with her, she's the real deal." Harvey bragged.

May had worry plastered on her face. I was also surprised the worry was directed to me, as in she was worried how I'd take this, and not worried whether we'd win or not. She and I were doubtful but in the end, we'd win.

"Drew, it's nice to see you again. This is your first time in this too I believe?" He asked.

"If you mean as in first season, you'd be correct. If you meant in contests like this. You'd be wrong." I said. May held up a box displaying 3 ribbons from our previous contests. "May and I already, as you can see, have 3 ribbons."

"How, we've won the last few, and I haven't seen or heard of you two winning before that." She said surprised.

"Surprisingly enough, Harvey hasn't told you about his crushing defeat by us, before he went and got you. May and I had won the ribbons in the end of the three contests we had entered."

"What do you mean 'in the end'?"

"You can back challenge someone if you lose in a contest to them, and win the ribbon."

"So you lost, re-challenged, and won."

"Not exactly," May cut in. "I was severely injured after the preliminaries of our second contest and the people who won said if we beat them in the next contest they'd hand over that ribbon as well since it was only fair since I was hospitalized."

"So they figured, if not for the accident, you would have won." May nodded with a smile happily pasted on her face.

"Well we'll just see who's better when we compete tomorrow, won't we?" She asked.

"Right." I put in.

"May, any news on your condition?" Harvey asked pretending to be concerned.

"Well when I was in the hospital I had um… let me remember."

"Shattered ribs, her spinal cord was mangled, She would have been completely blind and it messed up the bones in hers legs and probably had brain damage in addition which is why she was unconscious." Soledad gasped after I was finished explaining her condition.

"That's horrible." She said.

"Yet, we're back." I said smiling.

"You're competing?" She asked. "Even after all that?"

"I had to force May to not compete about 3 weeks ago. She wanted to, but no one would let her. Now she's back and we're better prepared then ever." I warned her.

"We'll see, bye Drew, May. Come on Harvey." She said. May gave a calming smile and sat down on a bench.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her.

"I'm perfect." She answered.

We returned home and sat on her bed, she was curled up in my arms. She was getting more nervous by the second so I held her. "May, we have no worries."

" Harvey bothers me."

"He's sure obnoxious but I won't let him bother you."

"After what he pulled before…" I placed a finger on her lips.

"Nothing will happen May, I promise." She nodded and rested her head in my chest. I rested my head against the bed and soon we had both fallen asleep like that, in each other's arms. It's had been and calm, exactly as if it was supposed to be.

¤ (Morning) ¤

I awoke and felt something resting on my chest it was calming, not dangerous, as one would expect in the morning. I looked down where I met the head of someone who I had grown to love more and more lately though these contests.

I wrapped my arms around her cradling her further in my arms. Soon after, she awoke and looked up at me. "Morning Drew," She said. Her face was blushing realizing that she had fallen asleep in my arms last night. I kissed her lips, she kissed back and she gave me a smile.

"Are you ready to get going?" I asked her.

She thought for a second. She hugged me and then climbed off my bed and walked over to the mirror where her bag was sitting. "Now I am," I graced her interesting action of enjoyment in the morning with a smile.

"Good, because I think we should get prepared for the rounds." She nodded. May tell me that she wanted to dress up for the occasion of our return. I had dressed the same but it looked nice all the same.

She went into the bathroom with a large bag which I could only expect to be her dress and soon after, she came out. She looked beautiful. She was wearing what seemed to be a light blue tank top and a light pink skirt that went to her knees.

"How do I look?" She asked. She always did. It wasn't smart for her to do so because I always thought of her as beautiful, I wasn't very good at matching regardless, and I apposed judging people based on what they wore.

However, I answered all I could. "Beautiful, as always." I walked behind her and leaned against her shoulder. "Close your eyes." She had actually not been wearing her headband lately, opting to keeping two pins to hold her bangs out of the way giving her a different look but I took a box out of my pocket, took the object out of the box, and wrapped it around her neck, clasping it and walking in front of her. "Open them."

She looked down unable to see it since it hung directly below her chin. I smiled. I took her hand and guided her to the mirror in the room which she had conveniently forgotten was there. I had planned on giving it to her when we were going out to see my parents but I had decided against it. I decided that now would be as good a time as any since I'd rather not wait for her birthday to give her something this special.

"Drew, it's beautiful." I nodded and sat on the bed as she just stared at the reflection on the mirror. It looked better then I expected on her, she seemed to adore it. I was glad I gave it to her. It matched her eyes which happened to match her dress as well as the necklace. It was perfect for her. She walked over to me and sat next to me, hugging me. "Thank you so much Drew."

"You're welcome May." I took her hand and we walked out into the gardens to meet our pokémon. We got them in our pokéballs. We then proceeded to walk to the center. May and I were sitting behind the back stage, these contest were arranged by number of ribbons, making us go close to last since the matches were tug-a-war with many people having few ribbons instead of a few people having many ribbons like I would have wanted, and expected.

Soon we ended up deciding to use the pokémon that had barely, or in Espeon's case, never seen a contest. May seemed to be enthusiastic of letting Espeon be her first in her return to coordinating. I supported her enthusiasm as best I could, even if I tried to stop her, nothing would. We were using one of May's favorite combinations: Razor Wind, Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Swift. We had practiced it many times since it was her favorite, it was also the first one we used, and thus it would be a perfect performance move.

"Back for their 4th ever contest and first since she was hospitalized for serious critical damage during a contest and her partner, they are… Drew Kito and May Adena." Dani announced happily. "The pokémon they will be showing are Espeon which is newly evolved and Drew's rarest pokémon, Absol. This should prove to be interesting."

"Combination." I said calmly.

"Number 4." She finished. The pokémon took their positions and did the counts and performed the wonderful display for the judges the background being a wonderful stared rainbow with a light swirl to it and a protruding dark interface in the middle it was the best anyone had seen yet

"It's the most interesting combination in the contests yet." Mrs. Contesta said.

"Four different offensive attacks, I've never thought to do that."

"For newer lesser used pokémon they seem in excellent shape and strength. As for you two, even the time off has been great on you too." Nurse Joy said.

May was smiling, she was more then happy that they had enjoyed our contest. We recalled our pokémon; May was happily skipping along until she crashed into me. It was only the 9th or 10th time but it got annoying. "Sorry." She said blushing at looking at the ceiling.

I stepped behind her and grabbed her by her waist pulling her on my lap. "Calm down, alright." I said. She nodded scooting onto the bench and staring at her necklace with a compact mirror she had in her bag.

"It you again… I thought we had seen the last of you already. With the way you were winning ribbons we thought you had your 5 already and went on a break." Lorenz said.

"Yeah, I mean underestimating you in the first contest, our mistake but we got a perfect score." I simply smirked.

"Wow, us too." May said not taking her eyes of the necklace's reflection.

"What is she looking at?" Makita asked.

"My necklace," May answered still not paying them an ounce of physical eye contact, still focusing on watching the necklace.

Makita stared at it and her eyes went wide at the beauty of it. "It's beautiful." May finally took notice of her and lifted her eyes from the mirror.

"Thanks, Drew gave it to me this morning. It's amazingly beautiful." May said placing her hand on her neck where the necklace was. "Well are taking the stage next too, see you then." May said getting up, grabbing my hand and pulling me outside.

"What are you doing May?" I asked.

"I dragged you outside." She answered. I sighed as she pulled me out more so we can see the screen, the screen displayed many pictures, among all of those was a picture that we had taken this morning May had wrapped her arms around my waist and rested her head on my shoulder. "See, we made it."

"No offense, but I knew that too."

"Ha. I'm sure you did." I rolled my eyes and held her face as I kissed her. She blushed and rested her head on my chest. I held her there for a while and soon they called those participating in the first secondary round." She stepped to my side but still held on to me and rested her head on my shoulder. We walked in and many were surprised to see us that close together since we hadn't that close to each other during the contests.

"May and Drew versus Solidad and Harvey," Dani called. I gave a smile to May as she took a pokéball out her pocket and walked to the stage. I stood next to her, only a few feet separating us.

May took a deep breath and placed a hand on her necklace after closing her eyes. She was clearly worried; worry was pasted on her face. I didn't like it when she was worried but she also seemed to be relaxing by touching the necklace. I smiled watching her. She noticed I was watching and turned to me with a smile. I nodded.

"Absol…" I called.

"…Espeon…" May added.

"…Go!" We yelled together. The two pokémon came out with a beautiful entrance and Harvey and Soledad tossed the pokéball out uncaringly. "Show is half the battle." May yelled.

"The other half is the battle." I added with a smirk. They just glared but it didn't have any effect. Their pokémon were launched out when Harvey yelled hold them down. Pidgeot was Solidad's pokémon, as came to a high point and dived down. I turned to May, and she nodded.

"Guard!" We yelled. It was expected that we'd go defensive when they attacked but our pokémon we trapped Pidgeot inside the barrier and the string shot carefully wound around the barrier, soon it too late and it was covered. "Release." We said and the string shot weighted heavy pinning Pidgeot to the ground.

May stepped forward. "Swift!"

"Razor Wind!" He said. The swift was carried faster and stronger by the tearing winds of Absol's attack thus knocking out a large number of their points and knocking Pidgeot. Solidad's eyes were wide with shock that we had taken 60 of their points so easily. I smirked. It was too easy.

Ariados was out numbered and was weakened from the attack but yet again, so had we. Our pokémon were a bit tired though not as much as Harvey's. I guess we need a plan. I looked at May to see what she was planning.

She held up the number 2, that was the different technique then we usually used. Number two was her special technique I had trusted her to specialize and I had one too. I hadn't seen it but I nodded telling her to go on and try it. I trusted her of course. She had a smile on her face still holding the necklace in her palm with her left hand while she held up the number two which Espeon walked over to Ariados. Everyone was confused. No one had seen this sort of thing, most pokémon were quick, and Espeon's nature was to be. I was more interested then anyone.

"May, don't mock my skill." She smirked now. He attacked her with shadow ball explosion. "Now!" May yelled. A guard field held both of the pokémon. What was she thinking? The explosion would hurt Espeon. I looked to her, there was, of course more. The explosion made the field go black. Everyone was stunned, they were thinking we sacrificed half of our points to win; it would actually gain a lot of points too but the point being that more then necessary we would win either way.

The guard fell and the smoke spread through the stage serving its purpose to dissipate the gas. An extremely normal looking Espeon surfaced. Everyone, me included was amazed. May smirked. I looked at her. "Match goes to May and Drew!" Dani announced. May smiled. She took another deep sigh of relaxing as if she had been holding her breath the entire time. She let go of the necklace and her arms fell to her sides. She walked over to Espeon and scooped her up into her arms. The pokémon curled up in her arms and May had a tired yet calm expression on her face.

I walked over to Absol, petting him on the back. He seemed calm and followed me over to May. Espeon jumped out of May's arms into my arms and I walked over to her. I kissed May on the cheek. Everyone in the stage saw it too. May was blushing heavily. I wrapped my arm around her waist with the other hand holding her pokémon. We walked off the stage and sat down. Absol was curled up in the corner of the room resting. Espeon was taking a nap in my lap and May was resting, almost sleeping on shoulder as I held her.

"What did she do?" Solidad asked walking over to me.

"I couldn't see either." I answered.

"Drew… you…"

I smirked at her. She was surprised. "I didn't help her with that. I have no clue what she did. It's similar to the technique we used to get your pokémon but she improved it. I don't see why she just didn't use the same version of it but whatever the reason it worked."

"It was amazing." She said sighing and sitting across from me. "The most impressive move I could have seen."

"We didn't see it." I reminded him.

"The approach, the attack, the defense, it was nothing anyone had ever thought of, it was a simple trap, it wasn't at all like your other one where you turned our pokémon against us, whatever she did might have taken Ariados out from the next contest." I shrugged. She looked over to May. She kept staring at her.

"She's asleep." I said. She had been resting for a while, it was a surprisingly long wait since the stage was torn to extremes from our match, May was quite tired even though I knew for a fact she had slept fine.

"She's happy, and you are too." I nodded. "I'm glad you two got together, I figured it would happen, just not this soon. So how?" She asked.

"A friend of ours, more like hers named Misty got annoyed with our waiting and she announced the other's feeling to us out loud. May ran away almost into a lake but I saved her. It was right before our last match in our last contest."

"That isn't as romantic as I thought it would be." She said sighing.

"Yeah, but it's a lot harder then I thought it would be too." I answered.

"Keep her safe Drew," I smiled.

"Of course, anything for her." She had a pleasant smile on her face.

"Like that necklace?" She asked. I flipped my hair and looked at the necklace.

"Yeah, I guess. I was going to give it to her when she met my parents but I figured that our first return contest was as good as anytime." She nodded.

"Well bye." She said leaving.

"I'm sure we'll meet in a later contest since his pokémon is out of commission and none of our other pokémon is willing to work together. I hope that we will see each other in the finals. I can't wait to see more out of her."

"Yeah, me too." I said answering her.

"May, Drew, your up!" A man called. Espeon woke up and jumped onto the ground. I turned to May.

"May, you need to get up. We need to go." She groggily stood up and yawned, stretching.

"How long have we been waiting?"

"30 minutes, they had to repair the stage." May laughed and we stepped onto the stage, our pokémon were already out. May was holding Espeon in her arms and Absol was resting next to my leg.

This was an easy win, nothing spectacular. It didn't even require a technique, they constantly attacked, we dodged and when we were about to attack, they had ran out of points from wasting too many attacks. How do losers like them get in these contests?

The next contest was the last round. Our competitors were the sisters that May had told me to watch out for; their names were Sepia and London. "We want to prove ourselves." The girl said.

"Sepia, we don't really care." May answered. "Enough talk, let's go." He said.

"Bombardment Combo!" The two sisters yelled.

"Dodge." We said calmly. A large wind of fire irrupted. May and I stepping out of the way to escape it also.

"Now my turn, combo number 3." I told May, she nodded.

Absol took the position I had taught it. I looked to May as she studied the movement carefully. Absol's special move that we wouldn't use much it involved Future Sight.

I hadn't said a word but Absol's glow had proved to them that nothing happened; our points went down but only a tiny bit. May look worried. The came at us which Espeon used control to stop them. Then a wave of many different elemental attacks and powerful attacks hit them knocking them out and we gained points. May eyes went wide and she tackled me.

"What did you do?" I placed my finger on her lips.

"We'll talk later. We have 2 ribbons to collect." She nodded and we received one of their ribbons and the contest ribbon. We were officially entered in the contest finals. May was so happy; she was hugging me tight if she hugged me any tighter, she'd suffocate me.

We eventually returned to our room, after dinner of course. Our pokémon refusing to return to their balls and we agreed since they had done such a wonderful job today. "So how?" She asked sitting next to me, on my bed.

"Future Sight,"

"Espeon can do that if I train her to." I nodded.

"I taught Absol over the weeks we trained slowly it worked until I could combine over 20 attacks. How it works it you can pick a pokémon, and sometimes two and then you activate future sight, then pick 20 attacks you want to use and once a certain amount of time is… it explodes all at once, a great finish."

"It was amazing."

"So was yours even though I couldn't see what was going on. It was impressive enough to wipe Harvey out of the next few contests." I said. I smiled.

May smiled and lay down in the bed resting her head on my lap. "(Yawn) it wasn't that hard. I used protect to hold Ariados in there then I used psychic to hold a few attacks, 10 I think as well as his own then when the timing was right, I released and boom! I remember the dangers of not waiting for an attack to finish before starting the next." I smiled. She closed her eyes.

"May, you may want to prepare yourself for bed first before you go to sleep." She nodded but she was now asleep, barely conscious of what I had just said to her. I moved her off my lap onto the bed, taking off her shoes and tucked her into bed. I went to sleep in her bed. She was so tired to day. Espeon curled up in her arms and Absol at the end of my bed, at her feet. I smiled and followed sweet to enter a restful sleep.

¤ (Morning) ¤

I woke up to hear a knock at the door. I quietly got out of bed to answer it. "Excuse me, are you Drew Kito?" I nodded. "Is May Adena in there also?" He asked.

"Yes, she is, but she's asleep." I answered.

"Oh, well can I talk to you until she awakens." He asked.

"I guess." I answered shrugging.

He brought me into a small room. There was a woman in there two with a small girl on her lap. "This is my wife, Dina and my daughter Melissa. I am Jonathan Rosily."

"Mr. Rosily, hello." I greeted.

"Hello Drew, so I've noticed that you are great at creating contest moves."

"I guess. I do win all of the ones I enter, minus a few I've lost to May but we haven't lost and not scored perfect since we started so I guess we must be good." I said shrugging.

"Yes, you are great. The best we've seen. We want you, and May of course to train coordinators at the school. As you are most likely aware, if you win the Contest Ribbon Cup you can no longer enter these contests, correct?" I nodded.

"Vaguely, I hadn't heard for sure but I figured."

"It's clear to me, as well as many others that you're young and bound to win this year along with your…"

"Girlfriend May." I finished.

"Yes, well we figured that after that you'd need a form of income, something to do to keep yourself busy along with your pokémon. Have you talked about anything yet?"

"May and I were planning on going to a Coordinating College with all the scholarship money we got from ribbons."

He laughed. "You're much too good to go to a college. I want you to teach." I was surprised. "It may come to a surprise but you and May are the two best coordinators we could find in the last 30 years. It's not surprisingly that you work well together since you are both very good so there are no feuds between you."

"That and are our relationship." I added.

"The relationship was built off of your dealings with contests, was it not?" I smirked. He was smart. "Would you even consider it, even a little?"

"You don't think college would teach us anything?" I asked.

"No, if anything it would mess up the interesting combos you have thought to create. School teaches you the dangers of not knowing the chances in a combo but you experiment with best results, don't you?" I smirked. He was quite smart.

"I think May and I might consider it. However I will have to talk with her." I said. There was a knock at the door. "Come on in May." I called. Hearing my voice she stepped into the room with a smile, upon seeing others she was surprised. The little girl ran over to her and hugged her legs.

"Hi!" The little girl said. May lifted her up and set her on her lap.

"Sorry about that." Mrs. Rosily said to May.

"It's fine." May said with a smile. "So what's going on here?" She asked interested.

"He's impressed with our talents. He's offering us a job."

"To coordinate?"

"Not exactly May, based on the skills you and Drew display we want you to teach at our school after you win this next month." A smile came to May's face; it was obvious she liked the idea.

She looked at me. "I'd really like it if we could once we win." May said. "Drew?" She asked me.

"I see no reason why we shouldn't." I said. "We'll get paid well, we'll teach other's how to coordinate, we'll be with each other and our pokémon many hours a day."

"Yes that, as well as you'll be provided with housing and everything else you would need." He added. May nodded liking the idea.

"Alright, so that's it? We agree." May nodded in agreement.

"Alright, so we'll start in September after the Grand Festival." He nodded. "Thank you."

"Professors May Adena and Drew Kito will be there to teach the class." He said talking to a person on a cell phone.

Mrs. Rosily handed Drew and I a pack of papers. "These are the kinds of classes that you'll be teaching. There is students' information in there as well as their pokémon." She said.

May knelt down beside Melissa. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Melissa, what's yours?" She asked.

"I'm May, nice to meet you." May said with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I see your necklace its pretty. It looks like your eyes." May blushed. "Where'd you get it?"

"Drew got it for me." May answered to the girl.

"He matches his hair to his clothes." May giggled at this statement. I rolled my eyes looking at the classes that we would teach: Coordinating 1, Coordinating 6, Advanced Coordinating, Contests 101, and Attacks and Combos Class. The students ages ranged from 8 to 20 year olds and not much older then that.

I laughed. May looked to me. "Solidad and Harvey are taking our classes too." I said.

"Really?" May asked.

"I'm sure they'll be overjoyed to see us teach them." I said smirking.

She rolled her eyes and got up. "Well we better get going; we have breakfast around this time."

"If you don't mind my asking what kind of housing would you prefer?" He asked.

May shrugged. "A Housing Unit." I answered him. May looked toward me. "A housing unit has 3 bedrooms for guests as well as the people living in it, a kitchen, and bathroom. It's a mini house for those who live on campus, for teachers, like us."

May nodded. "That sounds good; we'll take one of those." They looked surprised. "Of course we'll be living together, unless that causes a problem? Does it?" May asked.

"No, of course not. We just figured that you'd both need a house for family and such to live with you." Mrs. Rosily said calmly and politely.

"Nah, Drew and I don't get relative visitors much and if we do it's not for long. It's best if we stay together like we're best at." May answered him happily.

"Okay, well by then." Melissa said.

"We'll have everything arranged for you soon enough." Mr. Rosily said. "You can see the college and the house whenever you want to." I nodded and took May by the hand.

"I can't believe it, we're going to be teaching coordinating to students at a college, isn't that amazing Drew?" I smiled and nodded making her feel much happier then she already was. "I get to spend even more time with you after school." She said hugging me.

"I'll be glad to spend the time with you too May." She blushed and I started walking again. We arrived at the cafeteria and a girl was standing there.

"Lily?" I asked. She nodded weakly before collapsing to the ground. May's eyes showed fear while mine were worried beyond belief. I scooped my little sister into my arms and we jumped in my car and drove to the hospital.

A/N: It's sort of a cliffhanger; actually, it's quite evil of me because I have exams next week. I'm sure that those who are younger then I am in school are always like what's the big deal about these exams, who needs to study. The answer to that would usually be not me but yet again, this test is worth 10 of my overall grade in the class so it's quite important I do pronominal so most likely, the chapter will be 1. (Early by a day or two) 2. (Won't happen) 3. (Be postponed to Saturday). These exams are huge so respect me in saying that it's important I do well and I will try to give you an update before next Wednesday. In addition, sorry I missed last week and sorry this one is late. Aniecä


	13. ◊ News ◊

◊ (12: News) ◊

∆ (Outside the Contest Arena) ∆ - ¤ (A Week Later) ¤ - Φ (May) Φ

"That really was too easy." I complained to Drew.

"I agree but we'll find our entertainment in teaching, I assure you." He said leaning against the car.

"So when are we going to tell our family and everyone?" I asked.

"When we have 5 more ribbons." He answered.

"Why 5?" I asked.

"That's 12. It's 7 more than we needed, it's what I want."

"Whatever, 5 isn't a lot? It's only another 2 weeks of contests, then we can really go out and talk to everyone about our new jobs." He nodded.

"We have 7 ribbons now." He said.

"Yes, we only needed 5, that's already more than enough but we want to prove that we're the best so it's best to get more then you have too." I nodded.

"I agree, after 5 more, we'll take another, not so needed vacation." He said.

"It's well deserved though." I added.

"Yeah." He said. "You ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah." I climbed in the car beside him, while our pokémon were in the back and we drove off. We would arrive at the next location of the pokémon contest, within a couple of hours. I picked up my book that had a selection of life altering questions. It was a psychology book.

"Where will I be in 10 years?" I asked. "Where will you be? Where will we be?"

"Those are strange questions." He said.

"I'm reading it in this book." I answered.

"Ah, what does the book say?" He asked.

"Ask yourself and someone around you the following questions." I stated.

"Oh, it's another one of those books." I nodded. Over the last few weeks, I had been reading books like this. Some of the other titles I had read were; Being a Teacher, Do's and Don'ts of Teaching, How to Deal with Students, The Top 10 Ways to Teach, Student Behavior, Inside the Mind: Teacher's Edition, Inside the Mind: Student Edition, and How to Teach and Live Life Too. 

"Yes, but this one is a generic one, it's just about the future."

"What's it called?" He asked.

"Future Planning I," I answered.

"That sounds like a textbook."

"It is, because it was written just like normal things should be taught. Just like the skills taught in the books I read." He sighed. "So answer the question."

"What was it again?" He asked with a smirk. I sighed.

"Where do you see yourself and us in 10 years?"

"I'm not sure. 10 years is a long time. I'll be 26, 27 maybe. I'd like to have already won the ribbon cup by then, of course. Depending on how this goes I may want to keep teach by your side amongst other things. What about you?" He asked.

"It is a long time but let me see. I want to be settled down, a good job involving pokémon, whatever it may be and I want to be with you."

"I'd like to marry you, sometime in the future." He said quietly.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You heard me." He repeated. "I want to marry you."

"Really?" I asked. He looked at me and just had this funny look on his face, like I was being stupid again, which I guess I was. "I guess you're being serious because, I was too."

"Really?" He asked mockingly.

"Yes, really." I said smiling and leaning on his shoulder.

"So it's assured that we want to be together for the next 10 years." I nodded.

"Forever, really." I said smiling.

He leaned over and kissed me. "I do too." I smiled and closed my eyes while resting on his shoulder, forever together, Drew and me.

- Dream –

I was lying in a bed, the bed was all white besides some black outlining along the edges. The room was pained a mild greenish color. This must be Drew's room. I must have fallen asleep in here. I climbed out of bed to realize that I was just wearing a pair of light shorts and a tank top. I almost screamed but stopping myself and I took a deep breath.

"Pikachu!" A little pokémon said jumping onto the bed. I cautiously looked at her. "Pikachu."

"Whose are you, little one?" I asked.

"Pikachu!" The Pikachu jumped into my lap and curled up.

"You're mine, alright then, come on." I picked him up and walked around the house. I hadn't seen this house before. I saw all my pokémon and Drew's on the way here along with other pokémon that I hadn't seen lately here.

"Drew, you here?" A door opened and he walked out.

"Hey morning May, Pikachu wake you up again?"

"No, I was already awake but it made the morning a better." I decided not to ask where we were because I didn't want to sound stupid.

"So who else is around?" I asked, general questions helped out on mornings like this. Especially questions that weren't stupid!

"No one else much, the normal people are all here."

"Everyone?" I asked.

"Yeah, Ash, Misty, Max, Lily."

"All here?" I asked.

"Yeah, they're off today like we are, the normal." Man Drew you're so blunt that I can't get anything out of you with blunt questions!

"What's the address her again, I forgot." I don't remember it in the first place so how could I forget it?

" 2062 Dative Road. It's not that hard to remember. You feel like walking around the garden this morning?" He asked.

"Sure, garden." He was confused.

"I wonder how it looks this morning."

"Like always." He stated. Drew, answers, I need them.

"I'll meet you outside in a few minutes." He walked off. I smacked myself; I have no clue how to get outside to the garden. I turned around and went back into my room. In the closet were a lot of dresses and skirts along with random tops. None of these are what I was used to wearing.

I decided to pick out a pink blouse and a white skirt. I looked around the room. This room didn't look I was the only one in the room. It looked a bit busier then that. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was a lot older; I must have been at least 20. I was probably 23. I wasn't sure, but I just guessed. My brown hair was shoulder length and I was wearing a white ribbon in my hair.

Now I'm more confused then ever, I might as well try to find Drew around. I walked to find everyone was sitting in the living room. "Hey sis, where's Drew?"

"The Garden. He's waiting for me."

"Alright, didn't mean to hold you up." I nodded and walked to a door that looked like it led to the outside.

I stepped into the yard to find Drew sitting and looking at Rosélia. Finally, someone who's noticeably the same. I wonder why I didn't notice that Drew looked like 7 years older? I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. "How's she?"

"Fine, doing quite well. The accident didn't affect her at all?"

"What accident?" I asked surprised. I smacked myself.

"Well while we were out earlier Rosélia was offered some food by some of our student, you remember Christy, well yeah, it turned out not to be very good for Rosélia, but she's fine."

"Poor Rosélia and Christy."

"Yeah, when I called Christy up she felt really bad. I told her that Rosélia was fine and that you'd help her fix it to work in class in two days." I nodded. "How are you doing?"

"Confused." I said.

"Why?"

"I think I may have forgotten everything that's going on. I don't remember where we are or anything."

"You're probably running a fever again. You shouldn't be out if you don't feel good May." He said placing his hand on my forehead.

"I don't have a fever, it's like amnesia."

"Oh, so what do you want to do?" He asked.

"Tell me about what's been happening lately. I last remember being 16." He looked amazed that I had forgotten that much. "It must have been a result of all the things then went wrong back then." He nodded.

"Yeah. You had a sort of relapse. Maybe it's best if you just rest." He said resting his hands on my lap.

"No, I want to here everything that's happened since then?"

"You want me to cover 5 years of our life, in one day?" He asked, skeptical of the idea.

"Yeah." I answered.

"Alright, I'll try. Well… um… we got married a year ago. When you and I were 20. We moved here when we got our jobs as professors at the college." I nodded. "We've lived here since then. No, they gave us a much larger place because everyone else went to the college too. Max and Lily attend the college while Misty and Ash teach." I nodded.

"And they live with us, too?"

"Yeah." He answered. "Since then, when they heard about us being professors, we all decided to live together. Since then, Misty and Ash got marry like a few months ago. Lily and Max have been dating since we were 17. Right after she went to her first grand festival. He took her out to dinner to celebrate since she saw it as such a big thing. They started dating after she placed 3rd."

"That's cute." He nodded.

"What about my wardrobe?" He stared at me.

"What about it?" He asked back.

"It's not the same stuff I normally wear."

"No, it isn't. Soledad and a couple other coordinators took you out after a week or so of teaching to get yourself a new wardrobe. They said you were too traditional, or something likes that." I nodded. "So do you like the way you dress?"

"Do you?" He shrugged.

"I don't really care for wearing what you wear but you look quite nice." I looked at what I was wearing.

"It does look nice and of course you don't want to wear what I'm wearing." I said laughing. I leaned over and kissed his cheek. He seemed surprise. "What's that look? Don't tell me something crazy like we don't kiss or something because we're married now, come on." I said laughing.

"No, you just don't do things as calmly as you are. It's surprising to see how you use to act."

"Really, what do I do?"

"You grab my arm and you always drag me off somewhere. When you're happy you like to run around and go to different places." I laughed. I grabbed his arm and pulled him farther into the gardens. I tripped over something and he landed on top of me because well, I had a hold of him and I forgot to let go of him.

He smiled and he gently let his weight down on me and our lips met. It's the same manner as I remember, just as loving and gentle. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled myself closer. "So, what's my take on having children?" I asked. He blushed and looked at the tree next to us.

"Um… I don't know… ask yourself." He answered.

"Come on, I'm curious."

"I don't know May, I'm serious. We haven't talked about it."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, Seriously." He answered, seriously.

"So what's your thoughts?" He blushed further.

"I don't know." He sat up and leaned against a tree. I rested my head in his lap.

"You might want to figure that out."

"I mean, we're only 21 May. We're really busy right now and I'd be hard on you especially."

"Why me?"

He just stared at me, like I was supposed to know. "You're the one who would be pregnant, not me." I laughed.

"Oh yeah." I laughed.

"So what matters, is your thoughts." He said.

"I wouldn't mind have a child." I said. I've never thought about it. I guess maybe I should talk think about it sometime, when I'm ready. "Would you care?"

"No, not really. I'll be by your side no matter what and so would everyone else. It would make things a bit more complicated but then again, everything is. I honestly wouldn't mind having a child either May, it's up to you though. You're the one the burden's put on."

"True but it's a lot of work for you to help me go through too." She said.

"So, I don't mind at all." I gave him a loving smile and closed my eyes to rest. I guess I was still tired after all.

- Dream Over –

"Wake me up later." I said to Drew.

"No May, it's late. We should get to the center." Drew said shaking me gently.

"Huh?" I opened my eyes. "Oh it was a dream."

"You didn't want to wake up, huh?"

"It my dream, I was sleeping." I said. He raised an eyebrow. "I was. I want to sleep." I said resting my head on his shoulder.

"May…" He sighed.

"Let me." He carried me bridal style into the center and I closed my eyes.

"May, Drew, we've been expecting you."

"How, we didn't call in advance this time."

"We expected you naturally of course, with you being at the last contest, this one I figured was no exception."

"Oh, thanks." Drew said.

"Alright, here's you key." I reached out and grabbed the key not bothering to open my eyes.

"She's tired huh?" Drew managed to shrug and he carried me into the room. He set me gently on the bed.

"I'll get our stuff and pokémon, rest if you want." I nodded.

"Thanks Drew." I'm sure he did the normal turn around, wave of his hand, flip his hair and walk off.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Same old Drew, so predictable. I'm glad our contests moves aren't as predictable as he is, or we'd be in trouble.

¤ (Morning) ¤

There was a knock at the door. Drew was sleeping soundly. I went to the door. It was Nurse Joy. "Hello, morning May. I'm surprised you're awake with how tired you were last night." I smiled and nodded.

"What is it?"

"A college sent this for you and Drew. I suggest you read it when he awakens, if he isn't already."

"No he isn't and thank you." I said. "Bye." I closed the door, set the envelope on my bed and picked out a change of clothes and went into the bathroom to change.

I walked out and jumped when I saw Drew sitting on my bed fingering the letter. "What's this?" He asked holding it between his middle and his index finger. "It's from the college, huh?"

"Yeah, I haven't read it. She said we were supposed to read it together. So I don't know what it's about either." I added.

"Oh, you want to read it or should I?" He asked.

"I need to fix my hair, can you?" I asked.

"Sure."

I went over to my suitcase Drew had brought in. I opened it and grabbed my hair brush. I folded up my bandana like a normal headband and straightened my hair instead of curling the ends like I normally did.

Attention: Professors Adena and Kito:

I'm pleased to inform you that everything is already perfectly in place for you. I'm surprised all the teachers were that accepting of you two such young teachers into the school so easily but upon hearing your names they agreed that you were the very best to teach the students here. We have your personal estate picked out also. If you have time, you can look at it. The address is 3038 Mildred Road; Cunnington, Lazlo. See you two soon.

Principal Rosily

"Hm. I didn't think he was the principal." I said.

"I figured he was."

"How."

"Why would they send another teacher to recruit professors, it was quite obvious."

"I guess it was. You ready for some training?" I asked.

"Sure."

Drew and I trained for hours and our pokémon seemed to be working even harder to impress us, it seemed. "Let's take a break to feed the pokémon." He said. I nodded and he went to get the pokémon food.

"Everyone!" I called. They all arrived and I walked to find little Eevee and Squirtle. I came back with them, they ran over to Drew who had the food. He gave them their food and backed up sitting on the ground. I then tackled him to the ground. "Hi Drew," He gave me a look that said 'What in the world are you doing?'.

"Hi May, would you like to get off of me?" He asked.

"Nope." I rolled over and rested my head on his shoulder.

"You're more energetic today then normal."

"So does all the pokémon. I'm just sharing their excitement." He nodded, understanding.

I stared up at the sky. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing really. Just the sky."

"You sure."

"Am I supposed to be thinking about something?" I asked turning to him.

"No, you usually do think about something." He said pulling me toward him. I sat on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck and we kissed.

"You should really do that in a place that's not so public." I turned around to meet the face of Harvey. I held onto Drew tightly.

"Leave us." Drew said glaring at him.

"Sorry to bother you two. I was just wondering if you've heard."

"Heard what?" Drew asked.

" Soledad is missing."

"Huh, no I didn't." I answered Harvey.

"Yeah. She's gone. I figured she might have told you where she went. That's a no, are you sure?" I nodded. "Alright then, bye." He said. He didn't make any comical remark. He seemed as though he had lost his personality. It's most likely because of Soledad. He must really like her.

After a while of just talking with Drew, and such a crazed Harvey ran over to us. "May, Drew, I need your help."

"What?" I asked.

"I'm not really in the mode to help." Drew said glaring.

"Come on, Soledad is missing. I need your guys' help to find her. Please?" He asked.

I looked into Drew's eyes. "May…" He sighed.

"You'd do the same thing if I was missing. Come on. Harvey may not be a friend of ours but Soledad is." I turned to Harvey. "We're helping Soledad, not you, got it." I told him glaring.

"Fine, Fine, just help." I nodded and helped Drew to his feet.

"Everyone!" I called. All our pokémon came over and I explained to them the situation and we all went out on a search. Drew and I would go with Rosélia and Eevee respectively, to find her.

After a lot of searching, we found no traces of anyone. How Soledad came up missing is news to me, she must have escaped herself, not been kidnapped. Someone would have noticed. I walked over to a cave in the forest. " Soledad!" I called. I had a feeling she was in here.

I dug into my book bag for a flashlight, after finding one, Eevee and I entered the cave. " Soledad, please answer me."

"Fine." She answered. Her voice sounded angry, not angry but sad, depressed really. "But you have to come in." She added.

"I'm fine with that. Eevee, return." I said, returning her to pokéball. I walked into the cave and I saw her sitting on a blanket. "Why would you be in here, of all places."

"Who other then the genius May would look to think for you in here? Everyone else, maybe minus Drew thinks you were kidnapped."

"I planned it like that."

"Oh, well I'm not stupid and most likely Drew figured it out too. That's why he wasn't interested in finding you."

"He's smart. He probably figured I left on my own." I nodded.

"So why did you leave?" I asked.

" Harvey."

"Did he hurt you?"

"Not physically, but emotionally and mentally yes. I'm tired of how he acts toward me and others, it hurts so much. He relies on me to win and yells at me when we don't. I like the guy, but I can't stand him anymore. I want to be left alone."

"I understand but I recommend coming back to the center. After all, you'll get sick being in this cold cave… even with a blanket." She smirked.

"Alright, you're right. I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble."

"Nah, Drew and I weren't doing much." I said blushing in the dark, not that she could see. We were really just talking and occasionally kissing. It's something that we'll be doing 5 years from now, it's not that big a deal to interrupt but she doesn't need to know that.

"I understand, thank you anyway."

"You're welcome. Harvey is a jerk and scary." She smiled.

"I agree. Let's go." I nodded and we left. It wasn't news to me that she agreed with my insults about Harvey it was a surprise though that she liked the jerk. However, I kind of did expect that too. Oh well.

We returned and Drew was sitting in the living just resting against the couch. He opened his eyes to see me, with a smile. Harvey rushed into the run and grabbed Soledad's hands between his. "Oh Soledad, I'm so glad you're alright." He said about to hug her.

I nodded. She pushed him onto his back. "I ran away from you. Stay away from me, got it. I'm tired of you, I want you to leave me alone, at least until the contest." She said walking off.

Harvey was shocked and collapsed onto the ground. "What's her problem, I was just being nice!" Harvey said.

"You never are sincere about anything Harvey." I said walking over to Drew and he wrapped his arms around me with a smirk on his face.

"You… you upset her… what did you say to her…"

"Nothing that she didn't just say to your face." He was about to do something when Nurse Joy walked over.

" Harvey, leave these two alone. Now." She said. He glared and walked off.

"What did you tell her?" Drew asked.

"Not much, just that she couldn't sleep outside because she wanted to avoid Harvey. She had to stand up to him." A smirk came to my face. "I said he was a jerk and scary." Drew squeezed my hand and I stretched out on the couch resting my head on his lap.

"I agree." He whispered.

"I'll be sure to tell him that." I said with a smirk of my own.

"Alright. So don't think he's cute or anything." I started choking on air. I sat up and he patted my back as I continued to choke. When I was done with my episode I glared at him.

"Are you trying to kill you?" He kissed my cheek.

"Nope, of course I don't want you dead. I just wanted to have a bit of fun with you."

"I suggest the way doesn't have any possible ways that I could die." I said.

"Alright, what do you suggest?" He asked.

I leaned over to him and my lips met his. After a while we parted. "How about that?"

"You said no ways that could possibly cause you to die."

"And how could I die from that?"

"Lack of Oxygen." He stated plainly.

"How many people have died from that?" I asked.

"Not any from lack of Oxygen but many have died from kissing as a result of one of them carrying a potentially lethal disease within them prior to kissing and passing it on." I sighed.

"Do you have a potentially lethal disease?" I asked.

"Not that I have discovered yet."

"Then I'm good because if you die, I might as well die too." He smiled.

"I don't want that. I want you to live happily."

"That's the good news?" He asked.

"Yes. That we shouldn't die from kissing, and if one of us dies, the other will." He rolled his eyes and pulled me closer into the potentially killer kiss.


	14. ◊ I Don't Know ◊

◊ (14: I Don't Know) ◊

∆ (Grand Festival Center Hotel) ∆ - ¤ (One Months Later) ¤ - Φ (Drew) Φ

It was time and we were moving slowly. It was now the August and the Grand Festival was starting. "May, are you ready?"

She was swimming in the deep end like a child while watching me. "I'm waiting for you…"

"What?"

"Let's swim." She grabbed my foot, pulling me under. I of course was in my bathing suit but I hadn't planned to go in. I was just catching some summer sun, I just wanted to tan not that she was listening.

"May." I said sighing.

"Drew… come on, please?" She asked.

"Fine." I answered. She dived underwater and I followed her under. It soon turned into a game of follow the leader.

The day was spend doing virtually nothing. Our pokémon were at the Festival Center on a check up while we were hanging around here. It hardly seemed fair to them but they'd have fun later when we brought them here too. There were many pokémon around too.

May hadn't changed much physically lately but mentally she had a lot. She was constantly thinking and wasn't as spermatic as she usually was. She spent much of that thinking time, thinking about the future, the pokémon, the contests and most notably, me. She mentioned that a lot. However when we were in a relaxed environment, she was back to her normal, old self.

"If it isn't Ms. And Mr. 12 Ribbons." An annoying voice said from the trees. May knew it as well and hit behind me. "Where'd May go? I'd think she'd be with you." She peaked her head above my shoulder.

"I'm here… what do you need Harvey?"

"Get it through you're head…" The glare I was sending him caused him to not insult her and take a step back.

"What?" May yelled.

"I'm not here to seek your help for myself. I'm seeking help for Soledad. I figured you could talk to her. You up to it May?" He asked.

"For her… maybe." I said. "I'll think about it. Where is she?"

"Her room, 25a. She's got it to herself." May nodded and I pulled myself up onto the pool's edge.

"They haven't gotten along very well."

"I'm surprised they made it." She added.

"Only, just barely." I said.

" Harvey is nothing but Soledad has called the moves to their contests since we left leading them to their last 3 wins."

"Yeah. We have to watch out for her." I said.

"You ready to pick up our pokémon while I talk to her?" May asked.

"I guess." I said. I held out my hands and helped her out of the pool.

She headed over to Soledad's room at the hotel while I headed to the pokémon center situated also, within the hotel. "I'm here." A voice pronounced happily.

I turned around. "Lily?" I questioned.

"No." The girl said confused.

"Who are you?" She looked down.

"You don't remember me."

"No, not really."

"I'm your number one fan. Remember me."

"No, now bye." I walked away.

I walked up to the counter. "Drew… welcome."

"Thanks… mine and May's pokémon." I said. She nodded me handing me two trays full of pokéballs. "Anything to report?"

"No, they are all in more then excellent condition. I expected nothing less."

"Thank you."

"Also don't forget to register yourselves before the contest."

"Trust me, that's one thing we don't ever forget to do." She nodded and I returned to the room that May and I shared. She wasn't in there, she was most likely still talking to her.

I laid down on one of the beds and let out all of our pokémon out. "Rosélia." She said.

"You all ready?" They all responded in their own language.

There was a knock at the door. I figured that May was checking to make sure I wasn't changing or something even though I'd most likely use the bathroom to do that but regardless of the reason, I opened the door. "Hello… may I talk with you?" A shy girl asked.

"Who are you?" I asked confused.

"Millie."

"Oh. I don't know you."

"As most have probably said before… I do know you. I have three questions to ask you. May I?"

"Sure."

"How do you and May get along so well?"

"May and I had a rivalry at first so we were just barely friends eventually we began to admire and help each other along the way, when and when we weren't going against each other. We supported and got along fair, not very well but eventually the need to get along as partners arose. We welcomed the partnership because we were of equal level, we needed each other and most importantly… it was what we wanted, both of us, deeply."

"So by developing a foundation, then a real relationship… you're lives got better."

"Not only that but they moved forward, advanced and became love."

"That's good. My second question is… can you take my pokémon?" The girl asked holding out a pokéball.

"What?"

"Jolteon and I can't do anything together. She needs someone to train her who's strong and will bring good use to her. I can't give her what she needs. She's too beyond my skills. I want you to."

"I know next to nothing about electric pokémon especially advanced ones like Jolteon. I really can't help you. Sorry." She looked sad. I didn't know what to do. I really had no experience with electric pokémon; I couldn't help her, or her pokémon.

I heard the door open. May wondered into the room not paying attention to anything going on. We both looked at her. She fell back in her bed and turned to her left side. She didn't notice us and wanted to rest. "What's up with her?" The girl asked quietly.

"May, is something wrong?" I asked her.

She turned around jumping up upon seeing the girl, Millie. "Millie, May, May, Millie. Now what's up?"

"Let's take care of Millie here first? She need something?" May asked.

Millie turned to May and bowed. "I am asking Drew for help in raising my Jolteon. I want him to train her for me."

"Why would you do that?" May asked.

"Jolteon was hurt when I found her; she doesn't trust me and being as old as she is I don't think I can train her. Her level is too advanced while I, like Drew know nothing about electric pokémon."

"Oh, that all. Bring her out." Millie surprisingly nodded and let Jolteon out.

"Zap… oreon." She said weakly. May eyes went worried as she walked over to the pokémon. She was scared. May approached the pokémon.

"May." I said.

"No Drew, don't worry." May answered. She walked over to Jolteon which zapped her hand. May nodded.

"Zap!" She said warning May to stay away.

"I won't hurt you." May said.

"Zap!" She hissed.

May walked further and hugged the beast. Getting severely shocked in the process. "May!" I yelled. May collapsed to her knees. I walked toward her.

"No Drew… don't."

May petted the smooth spots in her coat, those that didn't have electric spark plaits in it. "Zap." She whined. May continued to hold the pokémon. "Zap… oreon."

"You have to trust me… Jolteon. I won't hurt you. You have to trust me. I promise I won't hurt you. Please, trust me." May begged.

Millie was scared that May would be hurt ant it was her fault. I placed my hand on Millie's shoulder. "She and Jolteon will both be quite fine. I know it."

May's body collapsed to the ground. Millie was in shock. "Jolteon!" It yelled it used it's head to move May's body slightly. It cared… that's all May wanted. How stupid. That's not how you make a pokémon trust you, do you?

I ran to May. I looked to Jolteon. It was threatened by me touching it's owner. "She trusts me. You should too. Come on." I said. I picked up May in my arms and went to the elevator and went down to Nurse Joy's Room and nocked on it.

"What is going on Drew?" She saw May and jumped calling the medics. I carried May outside, Jolteon following still. It stood quietly along my side. May was for the 3 or 4th time rushed to the hospital and put into a room.

"What happened to her?" The nurse asked.

"Jolteon zapped her."

"Why?"

"May wanted it to trust her. It was scared, May knew this but she felt compelled that the only way to get Jolteon to trust her was to bond like that. It was stupid but it worked."

"This theory has always worked but was abandoned generations ago."

"What theory?"

"Electric pokémon are stubborn you have to, in most cases do anything, protect them, endanger yourself or show them compassion in order to befriend them. It works but it's harmful and dangerous. That's the only way to gain the complete trust of a electric pokémon."

"That's horrible."

"Yes, that's why most just train the pokémon with hard methods to obey, not caring about befriending it. However May has used this method with Jolteon."

"Will May be alright?"

"Who knows? I don't know." She answered walking off.

I sat down in a chair. Jolteon sat at my feet watching from movements from May. There would be none. Jolteon turned to me, she wished to understand. "She'll be alright, hopefully." The tone of my words made the pokémon ashamed. I placed my hand firmly on the pokémon's head. "It's not your fault. May does stupid things, even if they are for the best."

"Zap." She answered.

A knock was heard at the door. I opened it to find Lily, Max, Misty and Ash at the door, along with Pikachu. Pikachu! That's where May found that out. She must have heard that Ash did the same thing, but there were key differences that endangered May's life. Jolteon was a second level, high level pokémon. She was very strong and highly feared people. She attacked with brutality to stop May, May however, didn't.

"Ash… will May be alright?" I asked.

"I don't know. Don't you?"

"I don't know."

"What about the nurses?" He asked.

"I don't know." I said again.

"Answer me Drew." Ash said.

"They said, 'I don't know'." Everyone in the room gasped.

"How Drew how?" Ash asked highly concerned.

"Jolteon attacked her with a strong thunder bolt." Everyone jumped.

"That shouldn't have hurt her like that."

"It's a highly abused Jolteon that was scared for its life. It didn't want May to hurt it. It's a secondary stage pokémon and has been well advanced trained by its previous master, even before Millie."

"What did she do?"

"She embraced Jolteon, taking a solid strong hit from her. At the base of the attack. That why everyone shares the thoughts, 'I don't know'." I answered him.

Everyone took his or her seats. We were waiting for May to awaken. There were only two thing/people awake. That was me, and Jolteon. Jolteon seemed worried that she had hurt someone who had taken it within themselves to love and care for this pokémon. I, of course, loved her so I didn't feel comfortable sleeping while she could die at any moment.

"Zap." She said quietly.

"May will come back. I trust her." I closed my eyes, my body wasn't holding up too well with these on goings this late at night. I needed to sleep. I hoped May was there physically and mentally there in the morning.

¤ (Morning) ¤

"Jolteon!" The pokémon said happily. I opened my eyes to see May sitting up and stretching.

"Morning Drew, what are we doing here in a hospital? Me again?"

"Jolteon shocked you and we thought we lost you." May looked at Jolteon.

"It worked though, so it was worth it." May climbed off the bed and knelt down beside Jolteon, she petted Jolteon as if it was Espeon. How did she heal so quickly? It was amazing. Last night the doctors had no idea if she'd live, now she's acting as if it never happened. I really don't know what happened but it worked, so all is well.

Max woke up, opening his eyes. He rubbed them. "May, you're up? May… you're alive?" He tackled her to the floor. "You're alright." He jumped up after realizing what he had done.

"Yes I am. It's good to see you guys again. So are you here for me being in the hospital or the grand festival?" She asked.

"The festival."

"Good because I didn't want to disappoint by exiting the hospital in a few minutes." She said. She got to her feet. "Jolteon, let's go. You too Drew." She said turning around and giving me a smile. "Oh and Max, intrigue them and don't tell them where we went. Let them find it out on their own."

"Sure." He said not really liking the idea.

"You surprise me more and more every day May." I said.

"Good that means you're never bored, I know I sure aren't." We back to the hotel leaving everyone besides Max asleep in the hospital room. It was going to be a funny event when they awoke.

"What are you going to do?"

"Plug Jolteon into the contest. I think that's what we've got going for us, a new pokémon."

"Who with?"

"Rosélia."

"Huh? What combos?"

"Thunder and Grass I see as complimentary."

"I guess, but this'll take work."

"Not really."

"For our opening move we use shadow ball and crash it with thunder wave."

"May, you think we can master that that quickly?" I asked.

"Yep."

"Well then let's go practice." She nodded and we went to our room to get Rosélia and practiced. She had already memorized Eevee's normal attacks and most electric attacks just like Pikachu's attacks. We came up with a long list of attacks however we had one problem. Jolteon needed to be checked.

We went through many attacks that we could use in the contest, all of which were extremely strong because both Rosélia and Jolteon were top notch fully leveled pokémon and ready for everything and any attack we had mastered which wasn't many only about 10 but in a few hours that wonderful progress.

We went to Nurse Joy and she was surprised to see me. "May, you're alright. That's wonderful news."

"Nothing keeps me down long but I was wondering can I enter another pokémon on my tab?" May asked.

"Um… I'm not sure. I don't think so but seeing as you were in the hospital I can extend it until the end of today." May handed her the pokéball.

"Thanks so much. That's Jolteon, she's my newest star player for the contests. Check her out and tell me when she's ready? Can you?" She asked.

"Yeah, I will." She said walking into the back.

"Lucky." I said with a smirk.

"No Luck, it just happens."

"Same thing, it chance that it happens so give it us for Ms. Luck." She sighed.

"So what are we going to do know?" She asked me.

"I'm taking you out to dinner Ash and I, it's a double date of sorts." A voice said behind us. I looked to see Misty.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Don't worry. I've got in under control. Let's get in your car." I turned to May she shrugged and they followed us to my car. May just sat quietly.

"Take a right here." Ash said. We arrived a what seemed to be a fancy dinning facility. "This is the place, the best dinning place around." He said getting out of the car, helping Misty out. May and I both got out of the car. I looked at her.

"What's going on!" May finally couldn't take it anymore.

Misty sighed. "We are going on a double date."

I placed my hand on May's hand. She took a deep breath. "I know that. My point is… why weren't we told."

"Can we surprise you?" Misty asked.

"Not really." I answered.

"Just go along." Ash said. "We're on a double date and its fine."

We walked into the restaurant and we were seated at a table set for four. Drew to my left, Misty across from me, and Ash diagonal from me. "So what are you guys doing after you win the grand festival?" Ash asked.

"We're teaching a coordinating college." May said.

"You told us you wanted to go to college." Misty said.

"They said we were too advanced, they want us to teach it." I filled in.

"Oh, that's great. Where are you guys staying?"

"Housing is provided for us." May said.

"So you guys have your own place?"

"Yeah, so to speak. We didn't pay for it. It's part of the job." I said.

"So what are you going to be teaching, exactly." Misty asked.

"A lot of different leveled classes on coordinating."

"Both of you, together or separately?" Ash asked.

"Separately and together. Most of them are together though a few are separate." May answered. "Now what about you guys?"

"What about us?" Misty asked.

"When did you start really dating?" May asked wanting the details.

"I don't know. When Mist?" Ash asked.

"I guess it was right after you guys got together, not long." Misty said.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I got angry at myself and called up Ash and yelled at him." Misty said.

"Yeah… it was crazy." Ash said.

Ж (Flashback) Ж – Φ (Misty) Φ

That was it Ash Ketchum. I'm tired of waiting for you to reveal your feelings to me. It's obvious to me and the entire world that you love me so just tell me. Better yet, I'm going to tell you. I stomped over to the phone communicator and called Ash's cell. "Hello Misty, what's up?"

"Ash Ketchum, admit it. You love me!" I yelled.

"Wh… what?" He asked stumbling on his words.

"Admit it."

"I have no clue what you're talking about Misty."

"Admit it Ash Ketchum or I will come to wherever you are hurt you."

"What, what good would that do?"

"Lots, you stupid idiotic jerk." I slammed the phone down. My feet gave way underneath me and I feel to my knees and cried, I cried like the stupid lovesick idiot I was.

I stayed there what seemed hours but the phone rang. I wiped my tears and picked it up. "Misty… I've been knocking for 2 minutes now. Answer the door." I pulled myself to my feet. In all honesty, I hadn't heard a knock at all. Who was to blame me, I was upset.

I quietly opened the door. He pulled me into a hug. It was surprising but gentle and heartful. "Ash…"

"I'm sorry I'm a stupid idiotic jerk." He said letting go of me. "Will your forgive me and give me a chance?" He asked.

"Are you…?" He didn't give me enough of a chance to answer. He put his hands on my cheeks and pulled me into a kiss. It was so loving and gentle. I felt weak at the knees but he stopped. He wrapped his arms around me

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I really am. And yes… will you go out with me?"

"Of course Ash." He smiled and held me tight.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж - Φ (Drew) Φ

"That's so beautiful." May said.

"Yeah. Sort of."

"Yeah. I felt really bad. It wasn't the best time. It was touching though. I felt so bad for hurting Misty." Ash argued.

"I understand." I said sympathetically.

"It's really romantic." May said, while daydreaming.

Everyone stared at her. "Not really all that much. She was crying and I did it to make her feel better, when most people who were watching saw it they though I did it out of sympathy, sadly." He explained.

"Idiots." May responded pouting.

"Well what are you doing come September?" I asked.

"I'm got Gym Duty." Misty said sadly.

"I've got training, par normal." Ash said.

May looked down at the table. She was sympathetic to this situation also. They were two different people and their careers were too different. She required being in one place all the time while he was all over the place some of the time. Their relationship, most would guess, was destined to fail, however May as well as I did, agreed it would work out.

I would like think that May wouldn't go ballistic if we had to be separated for some reason but I knew her too well to know that she would indeed go ballistic if we were separated. For so it seems the only thing that could separate us was the Grand Festival and we intended to win. In one though, we were fighting for the chance to stay together. If someone beat us, they would most likely take our spot. It was a risky competition, as were all contests, battles and life in general. If we didn't take chances our life would be a bore of knowing what to expect and never have to guess or take a chance about something knew.

I placed my hand on hers. She looked up at me and nodded. She felt better knowing I understood her thoughts on this. She gave a smile and we stared at them.

"So it'll be just you two in the house?"

"Nope. I believe Lily and Victoria are taking the class too, aren't they?" May asked me.

"Lily probably, Victoria is still missing."

"Yeah, but she'll show up at our door one morning, or in our class. I know it." May said, with a smile. We can always hope of course but it's highly unlikely for that to happen like that. However, it would be nice if it did.

Soon the night was over, May and I returned to the hotel room as well as Misty and Ash with us. They had rented a hotel room in the visitor's area. We walked into the room and I sat on my bed. She sat next to me. I leaned back and she lied back against my side resting her head on my chest. She turned over, to meet my eyes. "Can I stay here with you, for the night?" I didn't say anything, it distrurbed the quiet tranquility that was going on. I pulled her close to me and closed my eyes. "Drew?" I opened one of my eyes to see her. "Thank you." She hugged me tight.

"Any time." I answered giving her the satisfaction of hearing me speak. I didn't like to talk unnessisarily but sometimes I gave her the satisfaction, if only some of time time.

"In your arms I feel safe, protected but most importantly loved. It's wonderful." She said curling up next to me. "I'm worried."

"Why? Everything is going on perfectly."

"It is, why is that? All my other contests went down badly."

"Because you don't have to worry. It's not your only yourself that you're relying on. You have me to count on May. If you mess up I'll cover you. We can't fail. Just think about how you feel now when we go on stage. That's the key to being a success in this contest. It's the trust between our pokémon and each other. If you have that 100 along with skill then you'll win. It's so easy to win, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it's just so weird that it was sort of a challenge and work to get into the festival but we got in it more than 2 times and could have entered many more times. It was so easy. What if the contest festival isn't so easy?"

"What can they do that we haven't already been through. We've have you blindfolded, in the hospital, out of commission, and sick as well as everything else. There is no obstacle that we haven't over come… that's why it's so easy. We've done it all before, though we haven't. It's no challenge if you know what to expect." She nodded.

"I love you Drew."

"Do I have to answer, because you know what I'm going to say?" Her lips met with mine in gentle peace.

"It would be 5 words compared to the 12 words you used." She said with a smile. She rested her head down and soon she was asleep. That was it; there was no more to it.

"I love you too May." I said with a smile.


	15. ◊ Grand Festival :: Take 1 ◊

◊ (15: Grand Festival- Take 1) ◊

∆ (Grand Festival Center Hotel) ∆ - Φ (May) Φ - ¤ (Next Day) ¤

I opened my eyes to find Drew was asleep. He was staring out the window. I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He pulled me in front of me. I looked where he was. "Simply, perfect." I said. I looked on to see the contest field, it was an outside arena to save everyone from being hurt in combinations and such. It was huge a great. It would be like I said, perfect for our newest combination.

"Yes, it's right for the taking." I nodded.

"Time to get dressed." I said.

"Sure." He said. He walked away. I fell back on his bed. I had to focus on the contest. I threw all my pokéballs into the air. "Beautifly, Jolteon, Espeon, Cumbusken, Bulbasaur, and finally Skitty. We are going to go out there and show them what we're up too! Got it!"

They all agreed. Jolteon and Espeon followed each other around the room. "Oh yes, everyone, that is Jolteon, she's a friend of Drew's and mine and I'm going to be training her Jolteon for her. So be friendly and trust her. Hopefully you all won't get too much since we're so prepared but I promise you'll all get your spotlight, got it?" The all made sounds to agree. I had a strategy for anything they threw at us.

"May, your turn." Drew said coming out in a pair of jeans and a green sweatshirt. He was dressing more relaxed for the contest since we didn't want to be too stressed. I was going to dress a bit casual also but not like that.

I came out. "Ready!" I said. I had picked out a light blue top and navy blue skirt.

"You ready?" He asked. I sighed and grabbed his arm pulling him out of the room. I ran back in returning all the pokémon to their pokéballs. Then we left after grabbing everything we would need for the day.

We went to the stadium. "It's even bigger from the inside." I said looking around. Drew nodded. He was looking around at it.

"It should be just big enough for our new combinations." I nodded.

"Good, because I don't think I can wait in excitement to reveal them much longer. Everyone is going to adore them."

"Not our competition, good thing that we already registered all the moves and pokémon as our property." He told me.

"Yep, well let's get the show on. First up we're starting with our very beginning Beautifly and Butterfree. Come on you two, take the stage!" I called as Drew and I tossed our pokémon out. They did a few flying patterns and shifted to position.

"Combination 3," He said.

Combination 3 was one of our harder combinations for Beautifly and Butterfree. It was a combination of a gust inner outer tornado being fueled by stun-spore, Psy-beam and other attacks. It was brilliant storm tornado of an attack. It was easily done but hard to master as we had, but nonetheless, it was success.

"It seemed successful." I said.

"Yes it did." He said.

"It also looked great." I said.

"It sure did." He responded.

"Alright now I think we should go with Bulbasaur and Rosélia. They've had the least amount of practice, none at all."

"I have to disagree, Drew; to grass pokémon would be the easiest to go together. Skitty and Masquerain need some more practice." I said.

"Alright then." He said. "Masquerain." "Skitty." "Take the stage!" We called.

"Skitty has mastered all of my pokémon's attacks, right?"

"Um… she has access to them all, as well as mine but their at random."

"Good then no matter what comes out, we'll have a very beautiful and unique attack. It doesn't really matter. We use water pulse and water tornado and then any attack will boost the power and beauty of that. I told you. It's all too simple." I nodded. We had pokémon what were strong and high levels, we worked well together and we knew what did and didn't work. This was really too easy.

"Alright." We worked on that for a while. I didn't pay half attention because the different ingenious attacks all proved beautiful and surprisingly like he had said. Some of them broke the other attack which would be bad in a battle but we wouldn't take a chance like that during a attack, only during a show. When breaking the attack for a shoe, it proved beautiful. I had learned tricks like this. Drew had seen me use these before. "We're just too good for this." I said.

"True, it's not a real challenge. Not at all."

"But it's experience none the less. It's really some of the best times in coordinating to this day. Our teamwork amazes me, how much I know and can easily rely on you still surprises me. Everything seems to do that too."

"Yeah I know. Can you believe that it's only been like 3 months or so?" I asked.

"No, I agree, it's goon by so fast." He answered.

"I really enjoyed it. Being with you Drew." I said smiling and hugging him.

"Me too. But you're making it sound as though I'm leaving you; or you're leave me. I'm not going to let that happen." He said.

"How can you assure that?" I asked with a smile. He got down on one knee.

"Would you marry me? That way, I don't have to worry, because I know." I nodded and hugged him. He slipped the ring on my finger. I looked at it.

"I accept." He rolled his eyes and held me tight. This was going to be a great day! Such a great day!

"You're wonderful, you know that?" He asked. I nodded and smiled. It was all, too noticeable.

We trained long hours with all the pokémon on all the techniques and it was only 8:45. We were swift and quick when it came to going through all the different combinations. We didn't waste time and all the pokémon didn't need to be reminded of the combinations. Everything went smoothly. The pattern and level of Drew and our pokémon, as well as I were laid out perfectly.

The contest was starting and we had to be on stage at 9:10. That was our time but I wanted to check out others' combinations and such. I hoped there was some competition. I haven't found anyone yet, except Solidad but Drew and I will win, in the end. I wonder why she came out of retirement anyway.

"Drew, I'm going to walk around. Check out the competition, do nothing, those sorts of things." He nodded following me with his eyes. I walked back. "Try to figure out why Solidad would come out of retirement too, it's bothering me."

"Alright, I will try." He said. I walked off.

I walked down the road, gently stepping quietly. I arrived at a riverbed; I seemed to unconsciously be able to locate these. I sat down. I lied back in the grass. "It's calming, huh?" A voice asked.

I looked up to see Solidad. She had a smile pasted on her face. "Yeah. It is. Especially in a time like now, when I really need to thing about things."

"Like contests?" She asked.

"No, more like life, love, and the future."

"Seeing that ring on your finger secures those things for you." She said with a smile. I looked at my finger, to be specific the ring that had my ring on it. I smiled.

"Yeah, my life is going to be spent with Drew. I'll get plenty enough love being with him. My future is with him and we'll bring each other happiness and success so I'm more than happy." I said.

"Yeah. It's nice. Huh?" She asked.

"Yeah. I wish that he would have done it earlier so that we would be able to tell everyone."

"I think he was just waiting for the right moment. He wanted to make sure it was perfect." I nodded.

"Yeah, now I'm officially beyond happy." She smiled.

"That's how life is for some people."

"So why did you return from retirement?" I asked.

"I felt that this was another challenge and I wanted to see if I was just as good at this as I was at everything else, in coordinating. It turns out, no."

"Huh, you've been doing good."

"No, telling Harley what to do is nothing similar to this contest. I might as well be disqualified. This contest is all about the relationship between you and your pokémon as well as him and his pokémon. The way I do it, I'm telling him how to coordinate. It's nothing like it's supposed to. It's beyond hard to be able to do it, you and Drew have the bond and skills to be able to do it."

"Thanks."

"No sweat. We're not friends on the battlefield though, right."

"Friends but also enemies. Nothing beyond horrid to the pokémon, right?" She nodded and walked off. I looked into the lake.

"Preparing a speech?" Someone asked.

"What?" I asked looking behind me.

"Well you seem to be thinking quite deeply. That's what I do when I prepare a speech." I recognized her, she looked at lot different she was Dana.

"No. I'm thinking. I feel like writing a speech now but now's not the time."

"Sure it is, writing helps let it out. Or you could just talk to me." She said with a smile sitting next to me.

"Not seeing you with Drew is making everyone come find you, if that's what you're wondering."

"Aren't you supposed to be hosting it?" I asked.

"No, someone else is for the time being." She answered.

"Oh. So what's up with you?"

"We're talking about you." She responded.

"Oh yeah. Well I'm engaged." I said with a smile.

"Really, can I see your ring?" I held my hand out. She smiled.

"Yeah, pretty. It really is. I know we haven't been on the best end, it's just that you make a fool of the hardships that most have to face to be here, for you and Drew, and it was natural."

"As natural as it is and was for us, we faced hardships that were non-imaginable, they were the hardest and weirdest that could be forced on us. It was hard to work with these kinds of events, but in the end, we did."

"The end hasn't come." I laughed.

"Oh yeah, you're right." I said.

"But, you're going to win anyway, so you might as well be."

"Win as we might, and probably will when it comes to Solidad and Harley, it's going to be a match to wait to see. I'm telling you."

"I've been tracing that complicated rivalry for a while now; it's just how it's supposed to be. Rivalrous." I nodded, plainly stated.

She got up and grabbed my hand, helping me to my feet also. "They waiting for me?" She nodded. I followed her and she led me through a door. "Are you coming with me?" I asked.

"No, I have my job. Just walk through the door." I nodded and walked through the door. It was really bright and I noticed I was center stage at the contest field.

"Here she is! May Adena." I laughed, not for long. I looked beside the door to see Drew with a smirk on his face.

"You are almost late." He said.

"Almost." I said. He walked over to me and bent close to my ear.

"Almost or not, we're up." He said with a smirk. I stepped back and nodded. I mouthed who. "Plan." He said sighing. Beautifly, of course. He nodded and we went to the opposite stage.

"What will we be seeing today?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Our first combination used in our contests, Beautifly and Butterfree." I told the judges.

"Alright proceed." Drew nodded.

We tossed the pokéballs into the air. "Take the stage! Beautifly and Butterfree." We called.

This combo wasn't the same we used in the first competition, it was much better. It started with Butterfree making a circle while Beautifly made gust causing a tornado of beautiful winds. Then from the inside the funnel Beautifly would enter and release a large number of attacks thus create a storm of strength and beauty, amazing the audience and sending us to the next rounds, hopefully. After that stage was complete Beautifly and Butterfree backed up and used razor winds to break the wind attack into the beautiful air.

"This combo is beyond beautiful." Mrs. Contesta said.

"It's even further beyond your usual combos with these two pokémon and how to pokémon and you two work together. It's even better. I've never seen two people work so well together." Millie said.

"Your pokémon are absolute perfectly relaxed even while using all these attacks, it shows their beauty and shows the hours of practice that you've put in here, I really love how your pokémon are independent of you guys. You don't tell them what to do. They've been trained what to do." Vivian said.

"I know! You two are doing even better than I expected you too all those years ago. When it comes to teamwork I didn't expect to hear that you'd work together but with your skills I'm sure glad you did. Good job! I love it." Lillian said.

"10 points is the least that show deserved how it's preplanned and you and Drew along with the pokémon all communicate so well, it's so great! Thanks for the show." Nurse Joy said. I smiled.

Beautifly settled on my head and Butterfree settled on Drew's arm. They took a photo of us. We got straight 100 points. Every move was broken down to 4 categories worth 5 points. Teamwork between humans; teamwork between pokémon; originality of combination and beauty of the combination. These combination wasn't all the others were, where a good combo was an easy 30 this was beyond hard itself.

We all exited the stage and went to our individual relaxation room, all of our pokémon were sleeping or eating in there. I sat down on the couch beside Drew and rested my head on his lap. "How are you doing?" He asked.

"What do you mean? I'm fine. Really happy and excited… also tired."

"Why?"

"I sleep well last night."

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked.

"If I get a lot of sleep, I get tired too easily." I explained.

"Fine, I'll keep you up all night." He said.

"No, just make sure I don't sleep in too much. We'll just wake up earlier."

He nodded. "Alright then, well rest now. Alright." He said.

¤ (Hours Later) ¤

"May, wake up!" I heard someone call. I opened my eyes to see Misty.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"We're watching the pokémon contest. Drew said to he'd be back and to wake you up before Solidad and Harley go on stage." I looked to see the list, to see that Harley and Solidad that were up next. I watched as they walked onto stage. Harley didn't do anything. They prepared the water field for her, she then made ice work in the water and she told Cacturne to break the ice sending shards and water that was trapped in the ice everywhere, her Lapras then refroze the peaces, they fell fast into the water making a lot of water fountains. Lapras refroze those, Cacturne then sent a pin missile making whole in the ice and each of the pins were then froze in their spot in the air, making a wonderful view.

"It was a beautiful attack but they're not going to score well." I said.

"Why not?" Max asked.

"The contest is broken into 4 parts; pokémon teamwork, human teamwork, originality, and beauty. They'll lose 20 in human teamwork because Solidad is doing all the work." Lily said.

"But you guys didn't tell your pokémon anything so wouldn't you lose in both cateogories."

"No, because the we make symbols and movements to tell the other what we want to do, and to tell the pokémon what to do when. You can't see that well but it's there." I said.

"They have no teamwork between the two humans and they'll lose some for originality because it's based off of Solidad's one pokémon copyrighted move from the last festival." Drew said. "They've also already used this contest move in other contests."

"75 points are awarded." Dani called. Everyone clapped.

Harley turned around as if upset with their score as Cacturne followed him. Solidad smiled and walked out with Lapras in its pokéball. "They're upset." I said.

"Wouldn't you be if we scored like that and you didn't do anything?" Drew asked.

"Yeah but I wouldn't put myself in a position like that. We could have done that in our contests when I was blind but I didn't let you. I put in just as much as you did." I said.

"Harley wants to be a match for us, he can't if they don't score. They're not going to make it to the next round." He said. I gasped, it was useless for her to take over the contest if that's how it was.

"No way!" I said.

"May, I understand that they would have been the only people who poses a challenge but it's just not going to be."

"They've always been a match for us."

"There's nothing more we can do for them now." He said.

"I'm going to do something about it."

"Alright, if you want to. It's not your best idea. But for now, let's practice." He said.

We went out in the middle of an open field where the wind blew freely. Our two grass pokémon would unleash a barrage of grass attacks, there is a large increase on bonus points for same stage pokémon because it's harder to manage attacks like that but the attacks we'd use were impressive.

We finished practicing and walked over to the arena. We opened up the doors with our pokémon behind us. "May, Drew, Bulbasaur and Rosélia; they are here with another ace performance." I smiled, even they believed in me. Drew and I went to opposite sides of the field and our pokémon went on.

This combination was a double of everyone on of our attacks; we started with petal dance while performing sweet scent, then vine whips by Bulbasaur and Magic Leaf by Rosélia. It was a performance like all our others; it was a dance of power and beauty, what attacks should be.

It was easily finished and the score was of course a 100. They said that most wouldn't dare to use two of the same type of pokémon because of the simplicity and limit of attack choices. They said we harnessed their ability, bringing them together, as well as our teamwork to then we brought together a union of attacks, as well as individualistic persona. It was impressive, or so they said. It was too easy for Drew and I, in my opinion.

We went back to our room and I rested my head on his shoulder. Someone was knocking on the door. "Come in." I called not bothering to get up.

"That's polite, too lazy to answer the door." Max said walking in and sitting on a chair with Lily behind him.

"I'm tired."

"You sure seemed bored. With the way it looks, the pokémon are doing all the work, you two just stare at them."

"We taught them what to do, when they're up there; they take to it naturally." Drew said.

"Yeah, it's too easy for you two. That's why you're going to teach others your skills."

"Yep, the whole world will enjoy these classes." I said, it was rhetorical, I think.

Lily turned on the TV. "Now for those competing in the battle rounds! Go!" Dani called and lots of pictures went by on the screen, ours being the first.

"We did it." I said as if I never thought we would.

"Really?" Drew asked not caring. He stood up, my body slumping onto the couch. "Sorry but I need to go on a walk. I need some time alone." I nodded and let him go.

After a while Lily sat down. "He doesn't talk much, does he?"

"When you're blind he does." I said with a smile. "You can't read his facial expressions and movements when you're blind so he has to talk them out. If you're blind, he'll talk."

"I don't want to be blind just so he'll talk to me." Lily said. "I want him to talk to me without being blind. Can't he just manage that?" She asked.

"Drew's not the kind of person to talk much to anyone. Even me, and we're engaged." I smacked myself. I was not supposed to tell them that. Yet again, from the ring on my finger it was obvious anyway.

"I'm so happy for you two." Lily said.

Max seemed okay with it but not overjoyed, as most would be in this situation. "Max?" I asked interested in what he was thinking.

He put on a large smile. "That's great May; I expected it from the beginning so it's not that much of a surprise is all."

"Don't tell Misty or Ash, they'll be too happy to hear. Just go back to them and I'll find you guys when Drew comes back." I told them.

"Alright." Lily said standing up and leaving, so did Max, following behind her.

A few minutes later Drew walked in the room. "They seem happy, you tell them?" He asked.

"Yes and do you have to be so blunt?" I asked.

"No." He answered. I walked over to him and kissed him on the lips. He wrapped his arms around my waist and soon we stopped. "You do." He said. I nodded and rested my head on his shoulder. He guided me to the couch and I once again proceeded to rest on him.

"We need to tell Misty and Ash too." I said.

"Yeah, but they'll know soon enough." He said. He put his fingers on my cheek; he rubbed them gently against my skin. I stood up and grabbed his hand.

"We have to go talk to them before they go on." I said. I knew that they'd be on soon, I was even more surprised that they had made it to this round but they wouldn't make it again. The second round had included all those about the 75 mark luckily but it would be the 80 mark line next.

"Fine." I ran off with Drew behind me just walking and I ran to the lake. Solidad was sitting in the middle on Lapras, reading.

"Solidad, come here." I called. She sat up and looked at me. She jumped off of Lapras, onto the shore and walked over to me.

"You need something from me?" She asked.

"Yes, I need you and Harley to make it to the next round." I said.

"Why?" She asked. "We're enemies."

"You're the people who'll be the most competition for us, all you need is a new move and tell Harley when to tell Cacturne to do something. If you do that you'll score better, so try it." I said.

"Alright, we will. Thanks for the advice May." Solidad said. She looked at Drew. "Are you going to just stand there?" She asked.

"Yeah, most likely." I answered for him.

"Come on, we have to go." Drew said walking off. I sighed, waved to her and followed Drew. I grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek.

"Can you please be a bit more social?" I asked.

"Maybe." He answered. I sighed and I pulled him to the place in the stadium where Misty and Ash were seated.

We sat down next to them. "Hey Drew, May, what's up?"

"Harley and Solidad are going to be up soon."

"I thought you said they wouldn't make it any further?" Misty questioned.

"May changed that." He said. I smiled and hugged Drew. He sighed and wrapped his arm around my waist.

"You guys seem happier." Ash said.

"Yeah, we are." I answered.

"Why?" Misty asked. "The contest?"

"No, Drew asked me to marry him." I said happily. They both looked at me and I smiled widely.

"Really?" Misty asked.

"Yes, I did." Drew said calmly.

"Good idea Drew." Ash said.

"Thanks." He answered.

"I'm so happy for you guys." Misty said. "It's so romantic and beautiful."

"Yeah it is." I said. I turned to Drew and kissed him. "Thank you so much."

"You're welcome May." He said. I rested my head on his shoulder and turned to the stage.

"Harley and Solidad are here again." Dani called. She didn't say anything else; everyone figured they'd lose. I wanted to wish them good luck but someone would think I'm being a bad competitor so in my mind, I wished them luck.

They took the stage both were smiling, or happy to say the least for Harley. They released Ariados and Butterfree. This would be more interesting. "All right Ariados, web shot, all over the stage." The stage was soon covered in webs except from a small area of the stage where Butterfree was and where Ariados was.

"Butterfree, fly through all the webs and release sweet scent along the way." Solidad called. "Now swift." The stage was starting to collapse.

"Rebuild!" Harley called.

"Help him out with Gust!" Solidad said. As the levels of webs fell and the swift after affect fell Butterfree blew the webs up and Ariados re attacked them. When they were done it was a beautiful sphere of web and golden sparkling webbings.

"Now Poison Sting." Harley called and it all fell from the walls.

"Silver wing." Solidad called. It broke down the webbing and blew it into the audience. I was at a state of shock. I just stared.

"With amazing comeback, they have been awarded 90 points!" Drew too was at a state of shock.

"They're more than a match for us now." He said.

"How did they lose points?" I asked. "I don't see it." I said.

"It wasn't very original. It was too simple but nonetheless, we've got them back against us."

"It's a challenge." I said.

"We'll need at least one, I guess." Drew said overcoming the shock.

"Yeah, I didn't mean for them to be this good." I said sighing.

"Apparently your disappointment in them pushed them to succeed like this. Good job." Drew said sarcastically.

"I'm up for training, how about you?" I asked.

"Sure, Skitty and Masquerain are up for the battle rounds."

"I wonder how they brought that all together so fast though." I said.

"I told you, your motivation." I sighed. It was my fault.

A/N: Well this story is moving forward pretty well. Not yet at it's mark but as far close to as I'm happy to say yeah.

I didn't finish this earlier because I had to do work for my school musical, robotics and babysitting so with loss of time, I didn't finish this until now. You'll be happy to see the next chapter, won't you?


	16. ◊ Grand Festival :: Take 2 ◊

◊ (Grand Festival- Take 2) ◊

∆ (Contest Hall) ∆ - ¤ (Later) ¤ - Φ (Drew) Φ

We had trained very hard improving our combinations so they would beet up with what Harley and Solidad had going for them. I guess I just figured that after their performance they wouldn't meet anywhere near us, but they were son close.

She was worried; she feared that it was just their differences that caused them to lose making us just more advanced. She figured if they had what we had going the entire time, would we have made it? She hadn't said a word after our conversation earlier. She was depressed. I held her in my arms and she was asleep but she hadn't said a word since I asked her that last question.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

She sat in the grass leaned against a tree. She hadn't said a word to me since she suggested we train, or was that me? Everything seemed really fuzzy now. I couldn't focus on anything except her depressed attitude.

"May, what are you thinking about?" I asked sitting beside her.

"Them." She said with a empty tone in her voice. Them was all I needed to know, all I wanted to know and everything I already knew was the problem.

"What about them?" I asked.

"I'm questioning everything that I've done since we met them in our contest."

"Why just until then?" I asked her.

"Because, if they were like this back then would we have won. I have lost to them before, so what makes me think that I wouldn't again. Especially since they are better together, so much better." She said hiding her face in her knees.

I placed my hand on her back. "We've beat them."

"But they weren't like this."

"When I got better and beat you after the kanto grand festival, did you question if things would have been different if I had that strength back then?"

"Not really, I just accepted the fact that you got better." I said.

"Exactly, they needed that time to be stronger. The only thing that matters and we need to worry about is the present and the future. That's all we can hope to worry about."

"Do we deserve to be here if people are stronger than us?" She asked. "The point is to bring together the strongest people, so if we aren't. Is are purpose her useless?"

"No, it doesn't matter because people get stronger or weaker as time goes by. The strong get stronger and the weak get weaker without trying but the only thing that matters is the strength, style, personality, and teamwork on those few rare minutes when you get on that stage. If you don't have strength on that stage than it doesn't matter. Those ribbons stand for a time when you showed those skills. If the thought they were stronger than us they would have challenged us for the ribbons again."

"Yeah, you're right." She said but she still didn't look up.

"You seem depressed, why?" I asked.

"Because it seems that I haven't gotten any stronger on my own, my pokémon and you and your pokémon have, but I haven't. I'm still internally weak. And I don't want to be." She said.

"When you're up on that stage, how do you feel?" I asked her.

"I feel happy, I enjoy being admired for my talent and my ability to work so wonderfully with my pokémon, your pokémon and especially you." She said blushing, resting her head sideward on her knees.

"That's how you're supposed to be, not as thought it's a challenge to be there. You should feel relaxed successful but still be a challenge involved, you need to feel as though you deserve it, and enjoy it. You'll lose points if you're down on yourself and you think that you deserve to be at home asleep in your bed."

"Confidence is part of showmanship. The audience sees the outward expression of how you feel on that stage. It's managing your feelings that makes you a good coordinator. You worry or see faults they'll find them but if you think that you're doing great and everything perfect, that's all they'll know too." She quoted.

"Exactly. If I went out on stage and cried when ever my pokémon was attacked and spent the whole time dodging the audience would see what was going on and they'd feel the same way, sympathetic to the pokémon and it would be chaos." I said.

"Yeah but they're so good. Everyone says we're so good but we had to try so hard to come to this level, and they came to it so easy." I laughed.

"They came to it so easy. Listen to yourself. We had to try so hard. We were the number one rookies, first years, we were the people who everyone laughed at because we had no clue what we came here to look for in contests and what did we do, we won everyone we entered and went through with, without a problem. Well, contest wise."

"I guess you're right." She said. I pulled her closer to me and I wrapped my arms around her. I ran my fingers through her hair, it was longer than it used to be. She had grown it out, she wears a red tank top, and blue skirt most days anymore, she use to wear a blue pair of pants until we got the car since walking isn't good in a skirt apparently.

"We had it so hard as opposed to what?" I asked. "They were the ones who struggled the entire time until you gave them the easy way to win, good job by the way and then you say they had it the easy way, we had it tough."

"True." She said trying to smile.

I smirked. "We're naturals while they're struggling." She nodded and tucked her head tight to my chest. She was warm, and light as well as soft and gentle. It felt so comfortable having her here in my arms. "Do you feel how I do when we're like this?" I asked curious.

"If you mean safe, secure, happy and love then yes. What do you feel?" She asked.

"I don't feel anything myself but what I feel is you, your warmth, your gentle and soft sensations going through me and your love." She nodded, she felt happy like this. I was glad because that meant she wouldn't mind if I held her right here like this for a while."

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

There are many things I could say about May but self-confidence was not one of them. She relied on others for her confidence making here easily down when no one was there for her. I guess that's why I took over that job sometimes, to help her out, be there for her. I guess I've been doing that for a while now but it's that what I've been doing.

"Espeon." May's Espeon said warning me of someone nearing. Who would it be?

"There you two are." Lily said with a smile on her face. I found someone that might be useful to talk to." She said with a smile. "Drew, meet your mom." I laughed at she came in with Victoria, and my mom.

"High sweetheart, how is she? She looks tired." She said looking at the girl who was sleeping in my arms. "You shouldn't have worn her out, you have to go on soon, don't you?" She asked.

"Yeah, but more like it that this competition's stress put her in this position. She's worrying about if she deserves to be here if there are people who are stronger?"

"What nonsense." My mom answered.

Victoria hadn't said a word; she just stared at May. May was still asleep; she was probably very tired. She had been for a while. The stress really was getting to her. " Victoria, do you want to say something?" I asked her.

"Not really, not to you. I want to talk to May but I understand that she needs her rest. I think she might do well to talk to mom and I later. Well I think we should go back to the hotel." I tossed them two passes.

"Those are cards for rooms in the hotel, they're free due to the fact May and I are in the grand festival. We got enough for you two just incase." I said smiling at them. Victoria nodded and my mom smiled.

"Thank you and you did very well. It's too bad that I didn't get to talk to you before the event, I tried but it was a bit too crowded."

"This is a big event though I haven't heard of it." I said to my mother.

"That's because it's very picky about those who can compete at this level. There are 3 stages in this area, and at this level you must have so many years of pre-coordinating training. Everyone here has been doing this for many years, for you to be at the top is saying something." She said walking away with Victoria.

After a while it was time for us to compete. I picked up May setting her against the tree; I collected all the pokémon and then I walked over to her. "May, it's our turn." She opened her eyes.

"Really? Again?" She asked.

"If you wouldn't sleep through all the interphases, then maybe you wouldn't think they've been going so fast, you missed Victoria's and my mom's visit but they'll be back. Victoria and mom want to talk to you." May nodded standing up.

"How do I look?" She asked.

"Perfect for a contest, ready?" I asked. "I got the pokémon in their pokéballs already."

"Then apparently I have no choice but to be ready, do I?" She said smiling happily.

"Apparently not." I answered.

We walked up to the stage. Masquerain and Skitty did a combination of Blizzard and Ice Beam they collided sending sparkling stones across the stage.

"Alright the first battle is Masquerain and Skitty versus Slowbro." Dani called.

We walked out. I focused on our pokémon, don't get hit, and attack. "Water Pulse." "Poison Sting." They called sending a water wave of poison at us.

"Masquerain, Ice Beam." Drew called.

"Skitty use 18 and 19." I said calmly. Drew nodded. There was an ice ball blocking the attack. Over the while every one of my pokémon had at least 30 different moves. Sometimes I got the numbers down, sometimes I'd say the attack but for this to work, we'd do both.

Skitty dug under the wall and bam! I heard the enemy getting hit with shadow ball. Skitty came back looking surprised.

"Now Masquerain use Arial Ace."

"Skitty, protect." I screamed as their next attack came at us and I blocked just in time.

"Thanks, now plan 2." I nodded. Masquerain picked up Skitty and destroyed the walls sending ice flying every which way into the air.

"Assist." I said simply. It was sand attack, good. All the ice pieces came flying high speed at them, it was so fast, and hard in cracked their barrier crashing into them. Their points dropped a lot; our gained some. The sand blinded them. "Solar Beam!" Drew and I said knocking both of their pokémon back but they had managed to not be knocked out, they were strong.

Skitty was coughing. "May, use rest. I'll cover it." Drew said.

"Skitty, use rest." I told her. She went asleep glowing and Masquerain floated above her. The came out of the ground knocking Skitty up into the air.

"Catch her." Drew said. Masquerain caught Skitty mid air. "Hydro Pump." He said both the psychic attacks were fended off by psychic. She's starting to use psychic attacks now, not good. Skitty stood up and did Thunder Wave, a new attack. It hit the psychic and our points were dropping fast.

Drew smirked. "Psybeam." He added it to the thunder wave sending the psychic to expel and making a direct hit knocking them back further. The stage exploded, I didn't even see it coming. Skitty was out. "May, calm down. I've got this."

Honestly, I could say I didn't expect whatever it is just happened. I closed my eyes. The points were dead even now, which wasn't good. "Leech Seed!" Someone called quietly.

"Dodge now." I screamed to Drew, he dodged and Masquerain escaped it. "Just listen to what I say, they're speaking to themselves quietly. Their pokémon are distant." I explained. "Close your eyes and focus." He nodded, closing his eyes.

"Alright." He said.

"Quick Attack, Hyper Beam. Knock out Slow Bro. It's been really using it's powers, it's weak from defending so much. No offense, not much at least from what I can tell." I advised him.

"Solar Beam." They countered. Masquerain got hit hard. It wasn't looking good.

"Calm down May, it's fine." I wanted to run but Drew needed me here, I was just standing there hopelessly while my pokémon couldn't do anything, it was out. It also meant I couldn't do anything, at least directly.

"Combo Three." Drew said. This was a combination of Erie Wind, Sand Storm, Water Pulse and Gust." It was strong and it hit it's mark, knocking Slow Bro and matching Cacturne's remaining points. Solidad smiled, she was proud that we had done well. She accepted defeat as I sat here upset.

"Attack Number D." He said. What? Attack numbers? When had he made these. He fired a shadow ball in the air, he used gust and psybeam to hold it there compacting it, adding poison gas, this of course was under the cover of the explosion and now he used just to smash it into Cacturne, knocking him out. He sighed walked over to me.

"The end." He said.

"Why didn't you tell me about that?" I asked.

"Because, I figured you'd like this to go out with a bang." He said shrugging wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me close to him. "You did a great job May." He said.

"I wish I could have stayed it."

"You were tired, even with rest those attacks afterward just made it up and double. It's fine. I know how it is. Just wait; you'll see surprises all the time." He said with a smile as we walked on stage and they handed us the ribbon cup which was covered in all the many ribbons that we had collected.

He handed the cup to me. "I have another surprise for you." He said. He tossed a pokéball into the air. It was Rosélia's. "Go ahead, show her our work. There was a gas covering the stage and then it was clear the sky was covered in rose leaves. It was petal dance, except they were roses, full roses instead of petals. He reached up into the air, grabbing on and handed it to me. "Like always." He said with a smile. I hugged him very tight and they took our picture.

We walked back stage and Harley was sitting there with Solidad. She was standing up looking at us. "I was waiting, you took long enough." She said. I smiled at the rose, and then looked up at her.

"Oh, your new found attack used for personal purposes, very professional." She said laughing.

"It's not a useful attack but it is very entertaining." He said.

"So where are you two going know? Back to individual."

"No way! Drew and I are going to be teaching coordinating here!" I said happily.

"Really then we'll see you there." She said.

"Yeah, you're in our classes." I said smiling.

"Really, I didn't know that. Good to know. Well see you then." She said walking off. "Don't forget to tell me about the wedding!" She said.

"Will do!" I yelled back.

Then Lily, Victoria, His Mother, My parents, Max, Ash, and Misty all walked in wearing smiles on their faces. "You finally got your ribbon cup!" Ash said to us.

"Yep, it just took Drew and I working together."

"What happened after Skitty was knocked unconscious, it was dark and then an explosion happened."

"Nothing much, just an attack of mine." Harley said walking out. "Bye May, Bye Drew, see you at school. I'll adore learning from you." He said walking out.

"Weird, well if it's his attack I'm interested to learn about Cacturne." I said smiling.

"Yeah, I wanted to know what happened too." Drew said sitting down and pulling me down after him. "It was an interesting attack, that strong, silent, and harmful. It must be a top attack. But I want to see if any of our pokémon can learn it." Drew said.

"I want to sleep." I said stretching my arms.

"Again?" He asked. I nodded. He placed his hand on my head. "I think you're sick. We should have you taken to the doctor's office." He said. "May?" He asked. Everything was going dark.

¤ (A Few Minutes Later) ¤

"There she goes, she's waking up." A voice said.

"Eh? Who's there?" I said sitting up, stretching and opening my eyes.

"The doctor and I, May." I knew that voice; it's Drew's voice.

"Why?"

"The stress from everything rose your blood pressure too high. Nothing to be concerned with. You got too little sleep for a while and your body's just trying to catch up. You're completely healthy. The fever wasn't internal, it was just the skin warming up. You were under colder conditions is why." I nodded.

"Yeah, I feel better."

"You need to eat a bit more, sleep good amounts and don't get too stressed out. Relax." The doctor said. "You can go." I stood up and followed Drew out into the lobby where everyone was waiting.

"I'm fine, just stressed. I am hungry though. Let's go and eat!" I said cheerfully.

"Sure." Drew said.

"I'll pay, in honor of you guys." My dad said. I smiled.

"Thank you." Drew said. My dad nodded as well, as we all went to a large restaurant. I ate so much I don't think I would eat for a while but knowing me, I had to eat to keep up my strength. I didn't think my body would shut down from being so tired and stressed.

Drew's phone rang. He answered it. "Hello Drew here." I got close to Drew. "Yeah. I'll take her and the rest of them there. Sure yeah. Thanks." Drew hanged up, I sighed.

"Who was it?"

"Mr. Rosily May, he said the house is all ready for us, and we can go after we're done eating. Alright?" I smiled.

"Yes, our house!" Everyone looked at me.

"It's the house we get for working with the school." I explained. "It's ready for us to go see and you're invited." I said smiling.

They all finished up eating and we climbed in all the cars. Victoria transported herself, her mother and Lily. My parents drove themselves and Max following Drew, Ash, Misty and I to the house. Somehow, he knew where he was going.

Soon we arrived at a humongous house. "It's beautiful." I screamed running up to the house. I opened the door with the key Drew had tossed me. I walked in followed by Drew and everyone else. "Wow, it's so big. It has 4 bedrooms, a living room, a cabinetry room, a kitchen and two bathrooms as well as surprisingly an office. It has more than you described, Drew." I said staring at it.

"Yeah, that's good."

"Can we stay?" Misty asked excitedly.

"Um… Drew?" I asked.

"That's what the guest rooms are for. There are 3 guest rooms. One is ours." He said obviously referring to us. I walked into the kitchen, I would start blushing if I started thinking about anything.

"I wish we could stay longer May darling but of course, we have to go back." My mom said from behind me.

"Oh yeah, it's alright." I said. "I understand, always have, always will. Drew and I are going to be busy now too afterall." I said.

"That's good." She said.

We walked back into the living room and everyone was situated on some sort of chair, wall or sofa. There was a sofa, and a bunch of chairs. Drew was leaning against a chair beside a empty chair. Dad, Max and an empty spot were sitting on the sofa. Lily was nowhere to be found, as well as Victoria. Ash was sitting in a chair next to Drew's mom but Misty was gone too.

"Where are they?" I asked everyone in general.

"Looking around the house." Drew answered me.

"Shouldn't you have gone with them?" I asked.

"I don't know the house either. We just got here. Maybe in a few weeks." I sighed sitting in the chair. "We didn't tell them the good news."

"That you're teaching?" My mom asked.

"No, that we're engaged." I said happily. Drew looked at me and simply shook my head.

"That's wonderful May darling." My mom said hugging me. "I'm so happy for you two."

"Yeah. Congrats." My dad said hugging me. "Take care of her." Drew nodded.

"Someone has to, might as well be someone who always has." He answered.

"What's everyone so happy about?" Victoria asked.

"May and Drew are engaged." Misty said happily.

Victoria's face was blank, she was astonished to say the least. "Wow… that's great. I knew it would happen but what an unexpected thing, actually now would be the best time." I think she's happy for us but I'm not sure?

"Thanks." Drew said. I smiled and walked over to her hugging her.

"Take care of her Drew." Victoria said. Drew nodded.

"I know he will. He's just like his father." His mother said hugging him.

"Thanks." He said simply again.

"It's getting late in the afternoon, time to go." My dad said. "I'm sorry but you know all those eager challengers." I nodded; I remembered Ash's challenges with my dad.

"I'll be taking mom back as well." Victoria said.

"Can I stay May? It's a little late to start traveling way back to Johto now." Max asked.

"Sure." I said smiling.

"Me too?" Lily asked. I nodded. "Thank you." She said.

"You're welcome. Max and Ash you follow Drew to a room and I'll take Lily and Misty." They nodded following us through the halls. Somehow, we knew where we were going though we just got it.

After that, Drew and I brought in all our bags to our bedroom. It was comforting and a safe feeling. I sat down in the bed; then lied next to him. I rested my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms my waist. "It's only 7. You aren't going to sleep are you?" He asked.

"What time are we waking up tomorrow?" I asked.

"Whenever you want to. We'll serve breakfast at 8 for them since they have to leave but you can sleep if you want to." He said.

Then I can stay up until 12, if I wanted to. "Alright then I want to tour the inside of this place, it's huge!" I said grabbing his arm and running through the main hall into the kitchen. I opened the cupboards. I sighed. "No food." I said.

"I'll go get groceries and such. You can get settled in, alright?" I nodded.

I went into the office and I saw a letter. It was from Mr. Rosily.

Dear May or Drew: Well I hope you like the house. It's nice but you deserve the best with the way you're getting paid. This isn't included in your salary's that I showed you, this is addition, free, just for you. I hope you are enjoying it and having fun with whatever guests you have. You may want to buy food and such because I don't have much there. Take care, see you September 1st. – Mr. Rosily.

I walked around the desk and jumped to see two rather large boxes sitting in the chair. I smiled; it was a laptop for each of us to do work on. I set them on the desk and returned to our bedroom. I unpacked my things into one of the dressers that were in the room. Leaving the other for Drew.

I sat down on the bed. I lied on my back. I had already put the sheets on the bed, unpacked my clothing. "Pokémon." I said jumping up and running out back.

I tossed the pokéballs out into the large pasture. "Come on out!" I said. All my pokémon that I had with me were here. I had Beautifly, Bulbasaur Espeon, Skitty, Combusken, Squirtle, and I'd have to go get my Munchlax from Professor Oak.

I sat on a chair I brought out and watched the pokémon. Combusken was lying in a tree. Beautifly and Bulbasaur were enjoying the forest that was everywhere out here. Espeon and Skitty were playing with Squirtle as he was dancing on the lake he had froze.

"Ahem. Who are you?" A voice said from behind me. It came from the left of the house. I turned around and fell on to the ground.

"Um… I'm May Adena and this is my house along with my fiancée, Drew's." I answer.

"Those his pokémon, he a teacher?" The man asked.

"Nope." I said standing up straight. "They're mine. His are probably with him shopping." I said smiling. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Hm. A girl trainer, pathetic."

"Excuse me, you think so. I'm a coordinator but that that doesn't mean you will win. I'm going to make sure you don't." I said smiling.

"You talk big but do you fight big?"

"Does it matter, if I win?" I answered.

"Let's go." I looked around. Combusken jumped in front of me. "I'm just a student but a student is more than enough to beat you. I'm a coordinator also."

"Really? Interesting, a student? Name?" I asked.

"Katz Fibro. It means proud winner." He said.

"Whatever, this is a one on one match." I announced. He nodded.

"Wait May, I'll judge." Max said climbing out the window followed by Ash, Lily and Misty.

"We want to watch!" Ash said holding Pikachu.

"Fine, Max you can judge. You all just watch." I said referring to the rest of the crowd.

"And me?" I turned around to see Drew standing there holding groceries and his pokémon also carrying some.

"You can watch too Drew." He nodded setting the groceries down next to the one's his pokémon had set down and watched.

"Ariados, I choose you."

"Bug versus Fire, not smart. We have a water source out here you could have gone with water."

"I like my choice better." He said with a smirk. I shrugged. "Pin Missile." Cumbusken dodged. I sighed, this was too easy.

"May!" Drew called.

"Cumbusken." She was stuck in a web that I hadn't seen. A diversion smart. "Amber!" I called. Her body heated up and she fired amber at Ariados. The heat of its body raising, it cut the strings and she was free. "Good, now use flamethrower." The amber hadn't hit it's mark, the distance being to great but it cut the main web like I hope it might. The flamethrower hit Ariados and burnt all the webbing.

"String Shot!" He screamed. It caught Cumbusken's leg as she was about to land, wrapping around her body. "Constrict!" He came toward me.

Her body glowed blue and transformed while blue specs flew into Ariados stopping her. "Will-o-wisp, great." The blue light disappeared and Blaizken appeared. I smiled. "Secret Power." I yelled. When a new pokémon evolves secret power is usually a very strong volt of energy since this new pokémon has a lot more storage since it's technically all healed. It knocked Ariados out easy.

"Ariados is out." Max announced. I smiled hugging Blaizken.

"Man, you're good."

"Thanks." I said smiling.

"So who's he?" Drew asked. I shrugged. "You didn't ask."

"I did, I just forgot." Drew turned to him.

"My name's Katz Fibro. You must be the Drew she mentioned earlier." Drew nodded. "That's my fiancée May, her brother Max, our friend Drew and my stepsister Lily."

"Hm. Nice to meet you all. So you're a teacher?" He asked.

"May and I are." Drew answered.

"No wonder she's so good."

"We got a ribbon cup to show for all our efforts in the partnership coordinating." I said happily. "We're both teachers. I don't think we're teaching you though but you've got great style. You got me off guard though."

"That's easy thought May, you don't think two steps ahead when it's the enemy's attack."

"So, as look as I can get myself out of it and I win then that's all there is to it as well as of course appearance, show, strength and my pokémon." I said.

"You could think ahead of your opponent." Drew said.

"Yeah, so I have Blaizken now! How awesome is that!" I said cheerfully.

"It's really great." Drew said taking my hand and walking inside with everyone staying and talking. I helped him take the groceries in the house. I was excited for tomorrow. Who knows what would happen?


	17. ◊ The Legendary, May and Drew ◊

◊ (17: The Legendary, May and Drew) ◊

∆ (Their House) ∆ - ¤ (Afterward) ¤ - Φ (Drew) Φ

"May, what are you doing?" I asked her as she left some items on the floor.

"I'm planning what I'm making." She said stopping from leaving things on the floor to look at the back of one of the items. "Did you buy ground meat?"

"Yeah. It's in the fridge." She nodded taking it out and putting it in the microwave and setting it for 2 minutes. "What are you making?' I asked.

"Not sure. It's going to be a sort of casserole."

"Ah. You ever made one before?" I asked her.

"Nope but I've made everything else and this isn't harder. Cooking is just following directions so that's what I'm doing." I picked the items off the floor and placed them on the counter.

"It's more hygienic to keep them on the counter." She wasn't listening; she was reading something.

"Sorry Drew. Yeah I know it is. I just didn't want to." I sighed, a very good answer. I don't want to. What is she four?

"Alright, well I'm going to put away my things alright?"

"Okay. Also check out the office." I shrugged and walked out of the room. I walked into the office on the desk was two boxes and a tote.

Dear May or Drew: Well I hope you like the house. It's nice but you deserve the best with the way you're getting paid. This isn't included in your salary's that I showed you, this is addition, free, just for you. I hope you are enjoying it and having fun with whatever guests you have. You may want to buy food and such because I don't have much there. Take care, see you September 1st. – Mr. Rosily.

I opened the box to find a fancy laptop in a case. It would prove to be useful in teaching. I walked into my room and began to pack things up in my drawers. Then I notice someone had walked into the room. I looked up to see it was Lily.

"Hi Drew." She said with a smile on her face standing in the doorway. "So you're settling in?" She asked.

"Yeah, you need something?"

"Well I'm taking your classes and Max is taking some at the college too actually."

"Really, I thought it was a coordinating college."

"It is but they offer classes for normal trainers as well about working in combination moves and beauty into your routines but I was just wondering; can we stay?" She asked smiling.

"Um… sure, I guess."

"Well not now, in September since class hasn't started yet."

"May will probably say yes anyway, so sure." I told her. I didn't really care if she hanged around.

" Victoria seems to dislike you."

"I don't get why. I really don't." I said sitting down at the food of the bed, looking to her for the answers.

"Well you were a bit mean and harsh when you were breaking the news to her? She just wanted you to love her, and respect her."

_Moreover… I finally get with the girl, May who I really love and I'm happy and I realize my mistakes for abandoning you and you want me to leave May who is the sole reason for me realizing my mistakes and realizing that it's okay to love people again, you do don't you?" _

"I didn't mean to treat her like that. I just wanted to get thru to her." I said putting my forehead in my hands.

"It's not over yet. I'm sure she would be up to taking some classes at the school too." Lily said smiling.

"Why would she want to come here?"

"We can always hope and try, can't we?" She asked with a smile.

"I guess. I'll call her." She nodded walking off. I looked at the top of my dresser, my phone sitting on it. I picked up and stared at her number. 4-268-428-6742.

"Staring at the number isn't going to do anything Drew." A voice said.

"No, it isn't but I think I need time." I was about to close my phone when I felt May's hand on mine.

"Nope, you're going to call her. Somehow I don't think with all the training that Ash is going through that he's going to want Max with him. Lily would be alone and she wants her sister there with her. Come on." She pushed the call button and sat next to me.

"If she asks why it's your fault." May gave me a reassuring smile.

"You're just being difficult." She moved the phone to my ear. She gave me a smile and walked out of the room. "Tell her I said hi." May said as she finally disappeared out of the room.

"Is that you Drew?" Victoria asked from her phone.

"Yeah it's me, Victoria." I replied.

"I don't feel like talking to you. What's May's number by the way? I wanted to talk to her but I didn't get the chance." Victoria answered me.

"It's 4-266-292-3362." I said. "That's her cell phone. She always has it on her."

"Thank you, bye Drew." She said hanging up the phone. May walked in the room and sat next to me, placing an hand on my back.

"It's alright. She'll forgive you. I promise."

"I didn't know I did that much damage. I thought she forgave me already. That's all I want." I said. She climbed behind me and wrapped her arms around me; resting her head on my shoulder.

Her phone rang. "It's Victoria. She needs to talk to you. I'm sure she prefers that you aren't around me."

"Her or you Drew?"

"I don't care." I replied to her. I didn't want to her what they were talking about. "I'll check on the food."

"Don't lie to me Drew." I stopped at the doorway. "You can lie to yourself but don't like to me. I don't accept lies."

"I didn't lie to you. I said we both want it that way." I answered her leaving me to check on the food. It had another half an hour.

"Did you call?" Lily asked from behind me.

"I tried to talk to her but she just wants to talk to May."

"You don't seem to want to talk to her either." Lily said.

"Will everyone just leave me alone?" I asked.

"Yeah, but you can't be alone forever Drew." She said walking off. "Even if May lets you leave her, I won't."

"I don't plan on leaving her. I never would."

"You're lying. We both know that on your inside that when you're afraid of a situation you run. You're afraid to run away from her." Lily said. She left the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

I sat down at the small dining room table that was provided and wrote a note to all those in the house, well May. _May: I'm going out to think. You understand. I'll be back later tonight, promise. I let my pokémon out back earlier; make sure they all come back in. Drew. _

I left the house after grabbing my jacket. As I walked hopelessly around the streets and forests in the area. I crashed into a tree, to fall back onto the ground. "You're not paying attention to where you're going are you?" The voice asked. I turned around; there was Katz Fibro.

"Katz." I said looking at him.

He offered a hand which I took and got up. "What are you doing wondering around, Drew?" He asked stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Looking for answers."

"Well you found them. I think I can help you. Well, try at least." He replied.

"Well, I've got nothing left to lose so go ahead."

"Um… I don't know what your problem is. What is it?" Katz asked me.

"Oh yeah, well you see if have a sister, and the stepsister that you met. See my stepfather divorced my mother and took me with him, separating my sister, Victoria; and I then I lost a younger brother and my life seemed to fall apart. I couldn't stand having Lily around, and I was angry at pretty much. I didn't want anyone to be with me. I became distant and since Lily was traveling with me. I abandoned her in that city. I never got along with anyone ever again." I explained.

"So Lily isn't mad at you?"

"No. See Victoria and Lily understand my grief at that point. Victoria is mad at me because once I noticed how I was treating them because of May, well, they wanted me to leave May and return home with them."

"Oh, so you don't want to leave May."

"Of course not, she's the girl who I love and she taught me to trust, love and care again. Why would I want to leave her to be with my sisters?"

"Because they're family."

"It's not like I'm abandoning them anymore. I welcomed them into the home, and I talk with them a lot. I mean Lily is constantly talking to me on the phone and visiting."

" Victoria is older than you, right?"

"Yeah she is."

"Then maybe she is upset with you for something totally different because more than likely she understands the love you hold for May."

"Maybe she doesn't. Maybe that's why."

"I don't think so."

"I think so; I mean she left after I said that I wanted to be with May. I don't think she understands love. See, she suffered a lot when I became distant, because all she had was my mom and I. Mom was lonely and sad, so there wasn't much she could do but be by her side. I think she's still hurt from me leaving them in the past." I said.

"So what's going on? Has May or your stepsis talked to Victoria?"

" Victoria is talking to May now but Lily has tried her hardest to get Victoria to forgive me and listen to me. I can't apologize if she walks off and leaves me." I answered her.

"If May can get here, maybe I can try to talk to her? You think she would listen to me?" He asked.

"Maybe but I don't think she wants to be around me. I just don't understand." I said sighing.

"You should head home, and be careful or you'll get ran over because you accidently walked in the street." I nodded, returning home. It was about 10. I walked into the house. It was silent. I went into the room that May and I shared.

"Hey." May said, smiling over the book that she was reading. "How did it go?"

"You were the one on the mission." I said sitting in the bed next to her.

"Really?" She asked. "Nothing much was done." I sighed, that meant she didn't forgive me.

She broke out into laughter. "What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"You're very confused. She's coming to our coordinating class so she understands what's happening with everything, she's staying in a hotel with her friends. They're all also taking our classes. So, be prepared." She said with a vibrant smile on her face.

"I think I can handle it."

She hugged me tight. I gently placed my arms around her. "You can barely handle talking to her, nevertheless teaching her, correcting her and seeing her constantly. I wish you could do that all on your own."

"I'll do my very best, promise." I said smiling at her.

"Good, because that's all I can ask." She jumped out of the bed, pulling me after her.

"What?" I asked her.

"You need to eat something." She said. "You're too stressed you might just go under what I had." I sighed, that sounded quite plausible.

"Sure, so was it good?"

"Of course, what else did you expect from me? You're still better than me probably but it's the best I could do with what we had."

"With what we had, I bought like everything that was there."

"We need an oven. I could only use microwavable stuff." She said crossing her arms and sitting in one of the chairs at the table. I warmed up the food in the microwave.

"Ah. I'll get on that and see what we can arrange since it's more than just us two." She smiled.

"Thank you. Did you see the laptops?" She asked.

"Yeah, they're really nice. We can even set up simulations of contest moves and such. Not only will our students, but we will really improve a lot from working with this stuff." She nodded.

"I can't wait!" She said cheerfully.

I looked over at May and sighed, she was asleep once again. I covered her in the blankets and went into the office bringing the laptops into the room and set them on the table beside me. I opened one of them up. I turned it on.

"Welcome… Enter Name." The computer screen read. I typed in, Drew Kito. "Welcome, Drew Kito." The screen opened to the normal program screen. I opened the Internet up and went to my e-mail account. I hadn't had a chance to check my mail in a while.

There was one e-mail in the inbox. It was from I opened up the e-mail.

Drew: I just wanted to make sure the e-mail that you gave me for personal stuff was correct. I got for you was correct your e-mail account for the school that the students can access you at is The server webmaster is See you in September 1st. I hope to see you at the opening dinner for everyone. Jonathan Rosily

I sent a reply.

Mr. Rosily: Yeah I got the e-mail thanks. I'll be sure to check it out. I think May and I are going to visit campus tomorrow. We may see you there. Thanks for the update also. I'll be sure to make May check her e-mail also. Drew Kito.

I closed up the computer after sending the e-mail to him. I plugged in both of them in the office so they would charge. They were already fully charged but I usually charged things when I wasn't using them. I returned to the room and laid down next to May. She was peacefully asleep. Soon I'd have to get up and make something to eat.

I closed my eyes, and soon I would be asleep.

¤ (Morning) ¤

I smelled something good. I sat up and reached over to where May was last night. I must have slept in. I climbed out of bed, changed my clothes into a white shirt and a pair of jeans. I walked into the kitchen to see everyone stuffing their faces with bacon and waffles.

"Hey Drew, morning!" Misty said, stopping from stuffing her face quickly to say hello.

"Yeah Drew, morning." Ash said smiling.

"May's in the living room. She already ate." Max said eating at a slower pace but still not really normally. Lily was the only one eating properly and normal. I left the room, walking into the living room where May was sitting on her laptop.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

She looked up and I kissed her. She smiled. "Morning Drew, I was reading about the school." I looked at the page. "Pokémon Coordinating College." I read.

"Yep, the one and only coordinating school in this country." She said smiling. "We teach at it. So we have to better than the best." I nodded.

"You feel like going up there today with me and meeting our students and such? I wanted to walk around and stuff. You know." I said.

"That sounds good." She put her laptop in her bag it that it had came with it. I went in the other room and grabbed mine as well as my jacket.

"Can we go too?" Max asked with Lily by his side.

"I guess, since you are our pupil, right Lily?" I asked. She nodded. We all climbed into the car and soon arrived at the school. It was down the street, and up another one and it was the only thing there, a huge building sitting there. We climbed out of the car.

"Excuse me, do you have ID's?" A lady asked walking up to us.

"Drew Kito." I said holding up my regular ID. It wasn't a school ID but it would have to suffice.

"I'm May Adena, pleased to meet you." May said showing her ID as well.

"I'm her sister and student in the trainer district, Max." He said, holding up his student ID.

"I'm Drew's student and sister-in-law, Lily Mares." She said showing them her student ID she had received when she signed up most likely.

"Mr. Kito, Ms. Adena, I was sent to give these to you." Mrs. Rosily said, walking over to us carrying Melissa and giving us teacher ID's. "He forgot to send them over but he just checked his e-mail." I nodded.

"Who are they?" The lady who asked who we are asked.

"Oh them, they're only our new coordinating professors. Straight from the grand festival, with 12 contest ribbons, never lost any contest they were in, they won the grand festival and had trained individually for many years. They're the very best coordinating professors here." Mrs. Rosily said with a smile.

May smiled and blushed. "Thanks, can we go in now?" She asked. Mrs. Rosily nodded and we walked off. We walked in the school and there were tons of students rushing with pokémon at their sides through the halls. They were mostly people a few years older than us. A few students were younger than us.

"Wow, busy." Lily said walking into the hall to get knocked down by a pokémon.

"Sorry Ms." A guy said standing up and running off. Lily sighed as Max helped her up.

"Be more careful." I said. "You knew everyone was in a rush so why would you walk into the flow?" I asked.

"I wanted to go around the school." She said crossing her arms.

A girl walked up to us. "It's May Adena and Drew Kito!" She screamed. The halls came to a halt and they all were about to run us over.

I grabbed May's hand and we ran into the closest room, locking the door behind us. "Ahem. Excuse me, you're interrupting my class." I turned around. A girl was wearing a long black dress and it was tied with a white ribbon. Her hair was black also.

"Gomen." May replied, bowing. "You see, there were so many fans about to attack us and we needed to escape. I didn't mean to."

"Explain further please." The class was staring at us.

A girl in the class stood up. She looked to the girl. "That's May Adena and Drew Kito, Coordinating Legends." I sighed, more fans. She seemed too level headed to attack so we may be alright but this was sure annoying.

"Yes, I guess you are, aren't you?" I nodded. May smiled. "So what bring you here? A class."

"We're teaching a bunch of classes here." May answered her. "They're only basic classes though, since we've never taught before."

"Ah, well you should be safe now. Class, keep going." She told us, returning to writing on the board. I looked at May who opened the door and walked out. "I wonder why it took so long for them to recognize us." She asked me.

"It looks like this is the trainer portion of the school, not coordinating so they wouldn't be ones to watch and idolize us." I said looking around to pictures of different gym leaders and members of the elite four and such.

"Well, let's check out some of the summer offered coordinating classes." May said. I followed her as she walked to a map that was in the hallway. She kept staring at it. "Um… why did you leave? You don't know where you're going." Lily said walking behind us.

"Like I wanted to be bothered with fans now. I'm trying to work." I said crossing my arms.

"Yeah, I want to check out the summer coordinating classes."

"Fine, that whole hallway down there are the classes, just be aware they're going to know you." Lily said grabbing Max's hand and pulling him in the way that we had come to show him where his classes were.

We went down the hall across from where they were. We peacefully walked down the hall and knocked on a door that seemed huge. May turned the handle and walked in. She fell away from my grasp. "Huh? May."

"There should be a warning about the stairs here." May said standing up in the darkness as I turned on the light switch as it revealed a huge contest stage and where the audience was, there were desks set up except like only the a small portion of the size.

"Huh, of course you'd be the ones to stumble into this room." I turned around to see the teacher from before. "My class was dismissed and I went to talk to you two, when I saw you go in here I thought one or both of you would fall."

"They need a warning."

"No one uses the room. I guess that's why we need you. Our school doesn't teach hands on coordinating only basis of planning moves using a virtual program."

"That's why they need us!" May said. I nodded.

"Yes, it's because the professor's have been taught how to teach it but not how to do it themselves, not a single one of the teachers here even has coordinating, besides you. The only actual even trainers we have here work in the training district on Training 101 classes, like I do."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Most aren't interested in becoming coordinators if they're here; they're trying to get better or trying to learn the basics to coordinating because they were just trainers."

"Makes sense." I replied.

"Well be careful. I must go."

"What's your name?" May asked.

"Oh sorry, My name is Allie Markey. My students call me Ms. Markey but as a fellow teacher you can call me whatever you want."

"Allie works for me." She nodded walking away, after May's response.

We walked the halls for a while and walked into a classroom where students were crazily scribbling in note books. "I've told you. You can't coordinate!" The man screamed at the students.

The class sighed and wrote down more. The girl who was standing up looked at the ground and she was upset. "How would you know? Have you ever been a coordinator? I'd like to see you two go against each other." I said with a smirk on my face.

The girl looked at me. "Um… how could we? We both have no pokémon." She said. May sighed.

"Drew, they don't have pokémon! How can we handle this school!" I screamed.

"Make sure no one enters our class without a pokémon." I answered walking out of the class. I stopped turning to the teacher. "I guarantee that I'd beat you in a contest. Your plan is off." I said walking out. The bell rang and May came after me. Grabbing my arm.

"That was nice of you." May said hugging me from behind. She grabbed my hand and walked along side me. "I mean standing up for her though you have no clue what she's capable of or if what she was saying could have been wrong."

"It's alright Casey. You know he's trying to make you better." I boy said putting his hand on the shoulder of the girl who was turned down by the teacher. She was in a ball, by the wall and crying.

May stepped up, letting go of my hand. She walked over to the girl and bend down beside her. "Hi, what's your name?" May asked.

"Casey Blair." She answered. "This is my friend, Cory Lien."

"So you don't have a pokémon?"

"Ha, what a lie Casey." He said to her. He turned to May; I walked over to her. "We both have 2 pokémon, well trained ones. We compete in the level one pairs contests last year. We didn't make it so well, a few ribbons enough for cover a class here, his for a semester, but I pretty much failed out of it. He dislikes coordinators."

"He teaches coordinating and he hates coordinators?" May asked making sure she heard right.

"He needs to be taught a lesson but how can we if he doesn't have a pokémon to prove him it's harder than he thinks." I said.

"That doesn't matter Drew. If we can bring these two into victory, then them scoring well in coordinating individually, is all they need."

"Huh? Individually."

"Coordinating is a natural skill. You can't require it from schools no matter how hard you try. The only way you'll do better is if you find someone who you can use as a competitor and try with all you have to beat them. Then will you truly be better, working with your pokémon." May said.

"You can do pairs properly until you first master your individual talents. I recommend you leave for your journey now and use your previous skills as coordinators to do well there, then come to us. We'll teach you the next step, got it?" I said to them.

"Alright." Cassie said standing up. She looked at her friend. "You're going to my rival because that way we can really show each other what we're there for."

"Sounds good to me. See you at a contest Cassie." He hugged her and left her in the dust. She hugged herself, she was lonely; she slumped to the wall.

"I'll help you through this, I promise." May told her. "I'm May Adena by the way." Cassie looked up with a smile and May hugged her. "It'll be alright. I promise." She cried while May hugged her.

A/N: I felt bad for not updating last week when it was the last week for Robotics and I was a bit depressed and this chapter made me happy since this is the first Friday I've had free before 10 in a 2 months so I am giving you a gift of a second chapter. Yeah!


	18. ◊ Teaching, and Being Taught ◊

◊ (17: Teaching and Being Taught) ◊

∆ (In Class) ∆ - ¤ (Week Later) ¤ - VP: May

I opened my eyes to the same familiar warm sensation in my body, I turned my head around just to see Drew's green hair messily arranged on his head. I smiled, kissing his cheek. His eyes opened. "May, what?" He asked.

"Wake up; we have to go to work?"

"A contest this early?" He said stretching. "No… we have to teach." I nodded; his mind usually is slow in the morning, no wonder he didn't use to talk to me until afternoon to late at night. He was probably afraid to make a fool of himself.

We usually didn't wake up this early but that was just too bad. "I'll see you in a few minutes, for breakfast." He nodded, climbing out of bed, and walking into the bathroom.

I made French toast and sausage because I always switched back between that, pancakes, and bacon which either one was a healthy meal for Drew and I, as well as Max and Lily. "Hey sis, where's Drew?" Max said walking through the kitchen door.

"He'll be here soon enough." I answered.

"Where's Lily?" I asked. "Didn't you wake her up like you promised?"

"Yeah I did." The buzzer rang for cinnamon buns I had also decided to make this morning.

"That's weird. I woke up Drew up 40 minutes ago, 10 minutes before I put the buns in. He should be awake by now." (I forgot how long you put cinnamon bun)

"Yeah. I woke Lily up at six." Max said as I took the burns out of the oven and onto the counter with the sausage and French toast. "You don't think they're asleep again, do you?"

"Yes, I do." He said sighing. I walked back into the room that Drew and I shared to see him 'resting' his head on his laptop. I tapped Drew on his shoulder he sat up, looking at me.

"Sorry May." He said, grabbing a comb, running it through his hair and following me back into the kitchen. In another 10 minutes, Max pulled an exhausted looking Lily through the door. Max faced looked redder than normal.

I started laughing, Drew looked at Max and he smirked, laughing to himself. "Next time, I'll wake her up." I said to Max.

"Yeah, you better but at least I'm awake." I laughed.

"So what's for breakfast?" Drew asked sitting at the table.

"Open your eyes Drew." I said. He was confused. "The food's on the table."

"Yeah, food." He said. It was a confusion of statements but he was saying, oh, there it was, duh.

"It looks great May, thanks for making it." Lily said. "Sorry for smacking you Max."

"It's alright Lily. But next time, just stay awake once your alarm goes off and I knock on your door, alright?" He said.

"I'll try." She said.

"If you don't next time I'll just give him a bucket of water, that goes with you too Drew." I warned them.

"Harsh." Drew mumbled while putting a piece of sausage into his mouth.

"Yeah, I mean a bucket of water. It's not very creative at all."

"Alright, if you sleep in again I shall think of a much more 'creative' way to wake you guys up." I said with a smirk. If there was anything they knew it was I could think of moves and attacks on edge. If they wanted creative, stun spore and poison sting so they wouldn't feel the effects of it, but they'd be awake.

"Remind me to stay awake." Lily said. Drew nodded, continuing to eat. I sat down and quickly filled myself with all the goodies I had made for breakfast.

"What time are you guys heading up there?" Max asked.

"Half pasted 7," I responded.

"Really?" Lily asked. "Will you take Max and I with you please?" She asked.

"Ask Drew." I said.

"Sure." Drew answered. "Just be ready for all your classes, especially mine."

"You didn't send out a letter of what materials you needed, except that one a few days ago."

"That's all you needed." I said picking up the Lily and Max's plates while Drew had grabbed his and mine and put them in the sink as well.

"What was it again?" Lily asked.

"A pokémon, a laptop, and other normal coordinator supplies that you'd need for a basic contest." Drew explained.

"Good, I thought I might have needed something I didn't have." Lily said packing her bag with a case of pokéblock for her pokémon's lunch at the school and a bag lunch she made for herself.

"Our pokémon!" Max said. We all sighed, running to the back door, outside where our pokémon weren't.

Max whistled a little gift he got from Ash during all their travels. All the pokémon came back and we returned them to their pokéballs. "Alright, is that everything?" I asked.

"I think so. Laptops, pokémon, lunches, books, and ourselves. I think it is." Drew said as well all climbed into his mom's car that she gave him.

We arrived at the school and there were a lot of different people from those we had seen last week. All the students around here were moving quietly around, or wondered mindlessly through the halls, trying to find the place they were headed.

"May, Drew, Lily, and Max. Great to see you again." Mrs. Rosily said walking over to us.

"Can you show us where our classroom is?" Drew asked.

"You've already seen it. The huge auditorium, contest stage, that's your classroom. The room next door to it is for the basic classes but the main classes are held in there. Don't worry, we fixed all the problems. It hast been so long since anyone used it."

"We could tell." I said.

"We had it completely redone." She said. "One week of work, but it's great." We walked into the room, and pushed open the door, flipping the switch.

"It's amazing." I said. It looked quite similar but the chairs and desks were more new-age and had outlets for laptops. It was the kind of state-of-the-art classroom that I had in mind, except it was huge.

"This is what we'll need for teaching. It's fine." Drew said, shrugging as he sat down at the rather large desk that lied at the bottom of the rows of desks and chairs.

"This place is awesome!" Lily said happily.

"It is. Well, I have to go to class. Bye." Max said, waving, then turning around and walking across the hall to his classes.

"Well, if that's it the students for your class will be arriving soon. The forms told them they couldn't be more than 20 minutes early so you could set up for a few minutes." I nodded, setting my laptop on the desk and sitting beside Drew.

Soon a girl walked into the room, she seemed normal. She was wearing a sparkly green shirt and jeans. Across her front was a forest green sash with several pockets on it, the sash, it seemed was actually a book bag that was nothing more than a sling.

"You two are the teachers?" I wasn't sure if it was a question or statement but I choose to think she was asking a question.

"Yeah. I'm May Adena, nice to meet you. And you are?" I asked standing up and walking over to her.

"McKenzie Lien."

"Any relationship to Cory Lien?" Drew asked.

"My little brother, duh!" She said happily.

"Yeah, we ran into a few weeks ago. He's on a search to be a individual coordinator now."

"Why would he do that? He and Cassie were so good."

"Apparently not." Drew said.

"Drew!" I said.

"If they loose confident in themselves over what a teacher who is against the coordinating and teaches it they wouldn't be very successful in coordinating, would they?" He asked.

"You're right but you could be more polite."

"Yeah, he was horrible. That's why I was excited to see two great coordinators actually teaching coordinating, compared to that horrible teacher." McKenzie said with a huge smile on her face.

"Well yeah, I was disappointed that he was allowed to teach too. It was really sad how he treated his students, especially Cassie and Cory." I said.

"I told them that they should have got a transfer. He's a good teacher when it comes to planning contest moves and predicting how well they'd turn out but honestly."

"He can't coordinate." Drew said.

"Yeah." McKenzie said.

"We noticed when he said that no one in any of his classes had pokémon. I wanted to like… choke." I said.

"What a joke, having a teacher who can't do the very thing he's teaching." Drew said shaking his head. More students walked though the door, taking a seat and not saying a word.

A boy walked up to McKenzie. "May, this is my partner Nicolas Krimmer. We made it to the top 8, but we're not that good. Though, we're here!" She said raising her hands up, to mark success for them.

"Calm down, the teacher will kill us." Nicolas said crossing his arms in a desk and taking a seat.

"We are the teachers, and we'd never do that. Right Drew?" I said elbowing him.

He shrugged. "Probably not, who would?" He said walking down the aisle and sitting at his desk.

Soon, the class began. It began with a bell ringing and I shut the doors. "Well I'm May Adena." I started. I looked at Drew who was typing meaninglessly on his laptop.

He looked up and I stared at him. "I'm Drew Kito. Welcome to Coordinating 1. This is a basic introductory class, but you'll learn a lot of things that will come in handy when coordinating." He said.

"How many of you have 2 or more pokémon?" I asked. Everyone in the class raised their hands, however, raising them, was hesitant. "Good because this will make it even better. Having a pokémon is required for being a pokémon coordinator, have 2 or more is almost necessary once you get past your first few pokémon contests. We have a start. How many of you have been in contests before?" Hands rose, less hesitant then the first time. "A grand festival?" About 10 of the 30 students or one third had at least made it to the grand festival. I sat down and Drew stood up, walking on the stage.

"How many of you competed in a partnership based contest?" 2 hands rose, they were McKenzie and Nicolas. "How many of you had done both?" Their hands remained up. They had gone individual first, then to partners. That's how they did better than most did by starting out in partners.

"Each of you is going to show us one coordinating move from your number one contest so far." I said. "Then you'll take comments from not only Drew and I as your teachers but also, from your fellow classmates."

The first girl up was Allison Pyrite. She actually had been in the top 16 with Drew and I one year. I didn't remember what year but she had a lot of work to do. She called out a Dragonair and it used solar beam to destroy a ice beam pole she had made.

"It was too basic, it had good appeal but it's too over used, generic and simple." Drew said. "It lacked anything special."

I sighed, "I agree, it was a little too easy to think of for you, depending on how long you had to wait to think it up, the challenge it is to master it and how many other people have attempted the same feat is a large part of the appeal. It's a fair appeal I think, only because you seem to have no problems with putting on, no struggle."

I looked back to the class, a few students wanted to say things. "It wasn't really unique to dragonair, with it's beauty and abilities there are many other things that you could have done to impress us much more than the little attempt you put in."

"It was just too boring. I've seen the same stunts. I mean it's honestly a level one thing, nothing special." Another kid told her.

She wanted to cry, I could tell. I walked on stage. I placed my hand on her shoulder and she sat down in a chair that was off the side of the stage."

Dragonair seemed not to notice how her partner was feeling; it didn't have that connection with the pokémon. "Your pokémon doesn't understand you so that's why you're only getting away with that level of appeal. If you two were closer, and you were more alike, then you first though, then you'll succeed in what you're trying to. May I?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Watch carefully to how May thinks through it. May, try to talk us through how you're thinking." Drew said. I nodded.

"Well I'm going to focus on two things, the pokémon itself and it's physical attributes, and it's special dragon and ice moves which not all pokémon are as well trained in that as I can tell her Dragonair has been." I said. "Dragonair, can you make a random shape for us?" I asked. It did as I requested.

"Drag." It said.

"Now, can you use dragon breath to melt it into a clear cut ice pole?"

"Dragair." It said as it used dragon breath and smoothed out the pole.

"Finally use quick attack and um… let's go with… thunder wave as you lightly swerve in and out closer and farther from the ice pole. Understand."

"Drag." It waid as it quickly sped around the pole, up, down, in and out."

"Stop." I said. It returned to my side.

I smiled, perfect, just perfect. "See how after every step I let the audience see what I've done before I go on. Of course it wouldn't be as much time. Now finally, use flair, and then waterfall." The affects made clouds of smoke appear. "Iron tail." I said from the smoke. In the air was filled with crystallized fire and water bits that were flying around. "Finally, use shockwave. It vaporized all the tiny bits in the air letting the ice glitter from the fire and water that were contained within." Drew smiled at me. He liked it.

"Okay, besides how I moved through the attacks so slowly, since it wasn't rehearsed at all. If it was shown properly what do you think?" I asked the audience.

They didn't say anything. "Do you think that was 27-30 material?" I asked. They all nodded. "Good. That's what your skill should be like. There's no reason too. Use this as an example and let's continue."

I sat down and we watched a few more appeals, critiquing them as they better their original. I asked them to do what they would have done, and what they learned to see the clear difference in betterment. I heard crying and noticed Drew was gone.

"Everyone, by tomorrow I expect a one page, 200 word essay on each of your pokémon, as well as yourself and the major attributes that should be shown in your pokémon." They nodded and wrote down the assignment.

A hand went up. "Could you show us one of your key moves?"

"A… Drew's doing something. If you want, I'll let you out early on Friday and Drew and I will show you some of our top moves together, alright?" They all seemed excited to see it. "Good, then see you tomorrow. Remember to do the assignment." I reminded them.

I walked backstage. Drew looked at me. "She's upset because she's always been bettered by us, even now."

"I remember her, I'm not sure what year it was, and how well I did."

"You've been in the top 4 ever since your second year with me. I think it was 3 or so years ago maybe. Our 3rd or 4th year I believe it was." Drew told me.

"I've always been bettered by someone." I said to her, kneeling next to her. "I don't mean to baby you like I would younger students because you're my age, and Drew's too."

"How did you two get so good?" She asked.

"By being a competitor to Drew and always trying to beat him."

"Like you could anymore."

"Anymore, as if. I could still do it."

"No way."

"We'll see on Friday."

"What's Friday?" He asked me.

"I agreed to let them see some of our basic combinations. The ones that we have copy righted of course." I said laughing. "I think we should have a contest, I'm sure there are qualified contest judges in the building."

"Yeah, a few." A voice said behind us. It was Mr. Rosily. "I adored your class, everyone seemed so in touch with what you were saying. You showed them what they did wrong and you let them see the difference in how impressive it could be to not only others but them, it's impressive. The best." He said with a smirk. "Would you have needed to know that now?" He asked.

"No." I said. "I've known this stuff."

"And it only gets more boring from here." He said walking off. "Keep it up. The students already are telling me how great your class was and they haven't even been let out yet. I know I enjoyed it."

"Thanks." I said.

"I really didn't do much." Drew said.

"Yeah but explaining what you do isn't really your thing but tomorrow I want you to show them how to transfer between different moves properly. I've never been too good at that."

"Well you're going to have to help me rehearse because explaining what I do when I do it and doing it are to completely different things and I, unlike you have no talent in explaining it."

"I'm sure you can do it but we'll make sure we plan everything out anyway, alright?" I asked him.

"They have homework?" He asked.

"Yes they did. We get to grade a 200 word essay on their pokémon and the attributes that make them special. Key information for any coordinator." I said smiling.

"You think we'll get all A papers?" He asked.

"Hopefully, I'm interested in the variety of people and pokémon we have here."

"I am as well." He said wrapping his arm around mine. "A long class wasn't it?" I nodded.

The next class was a basics class in the lecture room next door. We were dealing with younger students who received scholarships from other schools, or their parents paid. These students were taking all 101 classes to try to learn as much of the basics as they could. None of them had more than one pokémon, it was a bunch of rookie starter pokémon coordinators. It's good, because if we start them out well then they'll stay strong but even with what we give them; they won't be successful unless they give themselves their own talent.

"First, we are going to study for a while what exactly coordinating is. Coordinating is the art of showing beauty in a pokémon, be it a battle or contest." Drew said, he had studied this before in the text.

"Can anyone explain the general feeling that is given off at a contest?" I asked them.

"It's of beauty, grace and amazing feats?" A girl asked standing up.

"That's the jest of it, yes." I said.

"It's not only the feelings that the audience feelings but what ones do the actual people on stage have?" Drew asked. "If you don't enjoy coordinating, you can never succeed in it."

"Why?" A boy asked in the class.

"How can you make the audience believe that what you're doing is hard work, a feat that is impressive and wonderful if you're sleeping while your pokémon is performing? Coordinating is pokémon and human work; it's not all about either. It's completely both people."

"So if I believe that my pokémon is doing wonderful, they will too?" A kid asked.

"I guess, in one way. It works better in a negative sense though because usually they can see the good no matter how well you think you did. Many times you'll think that what you did was great and impressive but maybe someone else won't. You doing well is how the audience interprets it, how they see it." Drew said.

"But if you see it as it is, if you mess up and start crying… there is no way that you can trick them and continue going if you're crying and upset about something. You have to keep going because all they have to rely on in. If you turn your mistake into part of the show then they'll never know the difference, that… in it's self it the art of coordinating. Coordinating is making the audience believe something whether simple or complex is beyond amazing." Drew said.

"If my Skitty was trying to catch a ball I tossed to her and it flew way over head, my mistake of course and I ran across the stage, caught it and said… oops my mistake to the audience and tried again, do you think they'd respect me? Raise your hand if you do." Half the class raised their hands.

"When you coordinate you turn what you have, while simple into something complex and impressive. There is no limit to how much you can do. Some of my best contests moves are mistakes I made in other contests that came to be great moves that everyone enjoyed."

The class was amazed with what we were saying; I was enjoying this. "So there's no limit to what you can do in a contest? There are no mistakes, right?"

"No, there are no mistakes in a routine until you give up and leave the stage without trying to prove to everyone that you are better than that mistake." I said.

"For your assignment, write one time in your life where you've done something the same or similar to what you must do in coordinating." Drew said.

"I remembered the term for it. It's called improvising, making up for your mistakes and making it flow into what you wanted to do rather than forcing what you have to." I said laughing at my stupidity for not knowing the term in the lesson. The class laughed at me, but I was too and it was okay. I should have known but then again, neither did any of them.

"Sometimes mistakes are better than what you had planned, sometimes what you had planned and you just have to make it up as you go and that is all what coordinating is about, being ready to give a show no matter what comes your way." Drew said.

"Once in a contest, an old competitor of mine rigged my pokémon and my feet without me knowing it. At first I just kept falling all over the stage, this was during my last chance for my last ribbon of my second year. In the end, I used whatever was going on and ended up winning and making it to the grand festival because I didn't give up and I used the rig to help me get through the routine." I said. They laughed at my silly antics but I'm sure as technology advances there will be more ways to cheat and that means they'll have to be even more prepared for it.

"I heard about that." Drew said. "Harley's work?" He asked with a smirk.

"I guess. Not actually. It was him, and team rocket. His pokémon being used by team rocket so either one was to blame but I don't hold a grudge because in the end, it helped me." I said smiling. "You have any stories to share with us Drew?" I asked.

"Not really, I'm not really that hated that that would happen to me. I've made mistakes before, not used at attack the way I wanted and ended up having to go in a completely different direction or if an attack didn't do what I wanted it to… I had to start with something I hadn't planned on using. It was diffucult but definitely worth it."

"We learn from our mistakes, we grow, we get better, plan ahead and most importantly, we don't give up because even if you mess up like you… let's say accidentally hit yourself with stun spore, I've never had that happen but I've seen it happen. Then you pass out, if they let you finish up, and wake you up which sometimes they do and let you finish and you just give up because there's now way that you'll make up for that. You'd do better and maybe make it if you are able to 'improvise' and make a come back like that."

"So never give up no matter how big of a mistake you make?" The girl asked.

"Exactly." Drew said. She nodded writing it down.

"What if you do something where there is no way to fix it?" The boy asked.

"Huh?" I asked.

"What if there is no way at all that you could ever come back, what if there's no chance, then can we give up."

"There's a saying, never give up without a fight. If you're going to lose give it all you can even if you're loosing the contest battle and the opponent hasn't lost a point, don't just leave, try with all your might but so far out of all the contests I've seen and been to there hasn't been someway to get yourself out, and make a come back." I said. "Drew?" I asked.

"If you're sure you're going to lose, make sure you do it with all your heart, and be a good sport. You wouldn't want someone to yell and be your eternal enemy because they had no chance would you?" He asked.

"No." They answered.

"Then do the same for your opponents, always respect them and know what is allowed and banned in contest behavior also."

"What was the homework?" Another boy asked.

"Write a little on one time in your life when you made a mistake and you have to improvise to fix the problem." I reminded the entire class. "It's due tomorrow."

The class dismissed and now it was 10 o'clock. "The day is sure moving slowly." I said sitting at the desk.

"Yeah, we have one more class, then a planning period, then lunch." I nodded.

"What's next?" I asked. He opened up the book the had our schedule. We both have separate Coordinating 6 this next period. After lunch we have Attacks and Combos class and Advanced Coordinating, it's two classes of Attacks and Combos in a row after lunch." He read.

"Wouldn't Coordinating 6 and Advanced Coordinating be the same thing?" I asked.

"No, it says in the book that Coordinating 6 is still a intro class like the first is. It's a class about learning the key elements to improving your form and such while Advanced Coordinating is for double people simply. It's about using complex concepts, two or more people or pokémon." Drew explained.

"Ah. So that's why Lily, Harley and Solidad are taking it, so they can work on two pokémon, two people stuff. They want to move to the next level." I said.

"It makes sense, so where is my coordinating 6 class located?" I asked looking at the book.

"Outside it seems, it is summer after all and the weather is always almost nice here. The classes pair up if the weather isn't good. There is the indoor training of the students as well as outdoors where their pokémon can better harnesh their abilities in the outdoors."

"That sounds good right about now."

"You should let your pokémon out." Lily said walking into the room. "I came from Coordinating History Class, it was interesting. They knew more about you then I really wanted to know."

"About us!" I said.

"Yes, that's what she said." Drew said.

"Yeah, don't get me started." I covered my ears, grabbed my laptop and walked away.

I noticed a man sitting in the courtyard, I recognized him to be the teacher from before; but what is he doing here? "Hello Ms. Adena, how are you?" He asked.

"Hello, and you are?"

"Ronald King. I was a legendary coordinator in my day."

"Then why do you hate pokémon now? You don't want your students to be coordinators because you were legendary, it makes no sense!" I screamed.

"Calm down Ms. Adena. Those who want to be coordinator will face many tough situations and in the end, I hope they've learned what I was trying to teach them. Being soft and caring only gets them so far. There is no way they can go out there, and not get hurt. Being unprepared for defeat is why most give up. They have to be prepared. Coordinators are smart, geniuses and they can't be afraid to be scorned for what they love." He said.

"I understand, somewhat."

"Good, so teach them that they have to be tough because in the real world, the world isn't as nice as you and Drew are. Remember how Drew was to you at the beginning that is what you need to prepare them for."

"I will."

"So, I'm a great coordinator like yourself. Would you and Drew like to go up against me and my partner?"

"Maybe, talk to Drew."

"You're not very independent of him are you?" He asked.

"When I'm with him I'm independent but I rely on him for things that involve him. After all, he's not always up for random challenges, we are busy people now after all."

"Well, if you want to, after you ask, you know where to find me. Remember what I told you." I nodded as he walked off.

"That was weird." A voice said behind me. It was Drew. "I'd really like to challenge him. If he's legendary like he said he was then we'd learn a lot, whether we win or loose."

"Yes, tomorrow after classes, we'll ask. I just wonder… who's his partner?" Drew said as he walked back.

"I'm not sure but if he did partners, than this should be much more interesting then I first imagined it would be." What was Drew doing here anyway?

"Hello, students! Where are you!" I called searching for them. Mr. Rosily walked over to me.

"Drew said you weren't in the right spot, he said he didn't know where you were supposed to be but he knew you weren't there because a few of our earlier students had been here as well to ask for you." I nodded and followed him to a large clearing in the forest. "Good luck."

"Thank you for everything Mr. Rosily." I said.

"You're very welcome."

"By chance, did you coordinate?" I asked.

"Of course I did, I didn't start up this school for no reason after all." He said laughing. "Silly questions don't suit you May. Stick to teaching."

"Yeah, teaching." I said looking at the bored students. Time to liven up this class, and toughen them up. That's what he said to do, so I think it's a good idea and I should.

'A/N: Tomorrow is Happy Ms. Starn Day! Don't ask, it's a holiday of mine that I made up for my awesome Honors World Studies Teacher. I had to make 6 dozen cookies for our class and thus I was running short on time since I had to go out and by them, and then make them and we went out for dinner so boom. Time hit me and ran away again. I finished this late but it is finished like I promised I would.


	19. ◊ Next Chapter of Life ◊

◊ (18: Next Chapter of Life) ◊

∆ (Morning) ∆ - ¤ (Friday) ¤ - VP: Drew Kito

I woke up freezing cold. I couldn't move. I heard a giggling voice in the background. "May, unfreeze me." I said calmly. She tossed her pokéball up and Blaizken unfroze me, slowly. "What was that for?" I asked.

"Sleeping in. I told you I'd be creative if you slept in. Max had his fun too." I sighed, sitting up. My body still numb from the freezing cold ice I had been froze in.

"Yeah whatever, let's get going." She nodded, going into the kitchen to cook. I changed into a pair of black pants, a white short, and grabbed my laptop case. I walked into the kitchen, sitting down, as May set the food down on the table.

"Mhm." A whining Lily said collapsing in her chair. "Max is so mean."

"May said I could and we warned you."

"Yeah but I forgot to remember to wake up. Give me a break." She complained.

"Whatever, May froze me and you don't see me complaining." I said, eating the food she prepared. It was waffles and toast this morning.

"This is good sis." Max said.

"Thanks Max." She said sitting beside me.

"So you up for the challenge today?" I asked, finishing my food.

"Of course I am. I'm always ready for a challenge from you. It's one of the reasons why I'm as good as I am today." May said. I smiled, yeah it was. Our competitiveness is one of the reasons why May and I got so far today. Our constant need to surpass each other moved us forward to get stronger and beat each other and that's why we're stronger.

"I am too. I interested to also see the outcome of all the students and how they improved after only one class. This is going o be a great learning experience for them." I told her.

"I know I'm prepared." Lily said chewing on the piece of toast in her mouth.

"For what?" Max asked Lily.

"Well you see, a few students in our class asked May and Drew to see their actual contest moves. So, they want to hold a class-wide competition, contest to see everyone they all have, and the winders get to go against the winner of the Drew versus May battle." I said.

"Wow I'd pay to see that. I'd love to go to your class if only for that period." Max said.

"If you ask I'm sure your teacher would let you, I wouldn't care of you came and saw the match between us; would you Drew?" She asked.

"Of course not, after all it's been a while since anyone has seen us go against each other, even your brother." I said to him.

"That's a good thing, I think. Instead of using each other to compete against we're using each other for encouragement and improvement and if I do say myself, it's working out better than before." She said with a smile.

"I agree."

"So the students are going to go against you?" Max asked.

"No, only the winner of the small contest does. They go against the winner of our match." I answered.

"I wonder who the winner from the class will be?" May asked.

"I'm not sure; they all were on a pretty basic level. It was fair, no where near where either of us were in our first contest, but it's still quite fair." I said.

"Ahem. I'm taking that an insult because I've won contests against you brother." Lily said.

"Yeah but you're routines lack much of the individuality. You only won because of the battles, so don't make it a big deal. These are based off of routines only. The better person wins." I said sighing.

"Whatever Drew." Lily said walking into the other room. She had to get her stuff ready since we were leaving now.

I climbed into the driver's seat, beside May who was already buckled in. Lily and Max climbed into the car. "Ready?" I asked.

"Yes." They responded. May just nodded as she just sat their with her pokéball and laptop cases on her lap. I nodded as I pulled out of the driveway and arrived at the class.

All the students were walking around. "Hello Professor May, Professor Drew." They greeted us as we walked down the halls.

"So your lesson plans for today are?" Mrs. Rosily said sitting in a desk at the front of the class.

"A practice contest to see how much they've learned just since Monday." I answered her.

"Ah. A test perhaps?" She asked.

"I guess we could make a test, right May?" I asked looking at her.

"Yeah, that sounds good. As long as they've improved and used what we've taught them they should all do fine. It's a pop test persay. They knew it was coming, just not as a test."

"Good because you're supposed to have tests at least every 3 weeks but all the teachers usually give tests in the first couple of days to see how much improvement they need. So they're not hard." She explained.

"Alright, thanks." May said as she took her daughter and walked with her. The little girl whose name slipped my mind ran up to May and hugged her.

"Can I stay here please?" The girl asked.

May looked at me. "I don't know Melissa. You might disrupt their class." Mrs. Rosily said.

"As long as she doesn't go on stage she'd be fine." I said sitting down and setting my pokéballs and laptop out on the desk.

"Yeah, she should be fine. She'll enjoy watching everyone too. You should stop in and watch them too." She smiled. May looked happy as she picked up Melissa.

"Yeah, pokémon!" She said.

"Yah, Yeah pokémon." May say happily. They sat down. Melissa on her lap as students filed in happily. Mrs. Rosily sat down in the back of the room where she'd get the whole view.

May picked up Melissa and carried her on stage, as she turned to address the class. "Alright as I said we were going to go through seeing your and Drew and my moves. However, my suggestion this entire class is going to be a test based on how you would do in this contest situation. It's just to see how much you've learned, and how good you are now. It's normal contest setup." I walked up on stage.

"We're starting out with the pairings." Out of the entire class, we had them each do appeals. May and I, giving them grades, and telling them their 'score' as they went. We had a class of about 24-27 students. We'd cut it to 18 so it would be easy to have the matches. It's a 50 advancement rate which is quite good compared to most contest where it's 30 of 500. That's considerably low and you have to be good.

After the matches were done, they were all seated. I stepped up. "Alright here is everyone moving on. Allison, Lily, Emily, McKenzie, Michael, Daniel, Nathan, Nick, Charlie, Chris, John, Eve, Mark, Amy, Dina, and Mariah." I announced. They stood up as they were called. They class clapped.

May walked on stage. "Alright the matches are, by random choices made by Melissa, they are… Allison, Chris; Emily, Nick; Michael, Lily; Nathan, Charlie; Daniel, Eve; Mark, John; Amy, Dina; and Mariah, McKenzie. Prepare your pokémon and then we'll have the next round." Within minutes, we started again.

"Those that are moving on are. Allison, Nick, Lily, Nathan, Eve, Mark, Amy, and McKenzie." I announced. "The pairings are Allison, Eve; Nick, Amy; Lily, Mark; and Nathan, McKenzie."

We sat down and watched the first battle. Allison and Eve. Allison had gone far since her first day where she was struggled but she studied hard and she was doing great. She was better than Lily even. They didn't know each other but they still fought hard. McKenzie I had met earlier, she was quite good but she didn't fit them together as smoothly as Allison did, giving Allison and advantage. In the end, however, it was a Allison who did win.

Nick and Amy walked up to each other. He shrugged. "Remember; don't go easy on me, no matter what." He said.

"Never." She said tossing her pokéball into the air. I went through my desk and opened both their files. Amy Brinks and Nick Krimmer. It seems that they had a history of being competitors with one another. Sort of like Drew and I had going. Nick or Nicholas as McKenzie had called him on Monday, had a problem with her behavior. Amy trained hard to beat him, but her partner Nathan, was lacking what it was that they didn't have. They did unofficial team pairs from what it said, having competitions through there and school but these two pairs of people never went against one another in a real match so one never knew who was stronger.

May looked over onto the paper. "So there's a love triangle going?" She asked.

"What?" I asked.

"It seems that Nick likes to pick on Amy's skills while he and McKenzie are only friends but Amy likes him. While McKenzie like Nathan, who is Amy's partner. A love square more or less." She explained.

"Yeah, well we have to grade them, so let's just watch." I said. We looked up to see the points still even, and then, time was up. Leaving them with a tie."

"You'll both continue on." I said. They left the stage with a smile on their faces. Next up was Lily against Mark. It was not interesting at all. I'd suspect Mark was better at training because had he not attacked straight on every time, he would have one. He used good combinations but those that she dodged, made him loose points. She then used a few attacks to knock him out of the park.

The next match was Nathan and McKenzie. "Hey McKenzie, what's up with you since last time?" Nathan asked walking over to her and shaking her hand. She blushed. He was obviously and clearly flirting with her, but she just shrugged.

"We'll talk later, now let's do our best. Alright?" She said with a wide smile. He nodded and they battled. It was intense, both dodging, attacking, their combinations surprisingly just as impressive as Allison's were at the beginning of the day. At the end, it was a double knockout rather than a tie.

"That was amazing." May said. "Great job."

"Thanks." McKenzie said blushing. She seemed different when May was talking to her earlier. Probably because she's in front of so many people, or maybe it's just when she's around Nathan, who knows?

"Alright the remaining people are… Amy, Allison, McKenzie, Nathan, Lily, and Nick."

"What are the pairs?" Lily asked.

"There will be actually, to return the number of matches to 4, we'll have an appeal's round." I answered Lily.

"You'll get 10 minutes to prepare in back. Use the time wisely." May said walking in back with them, carrying Melissa. I sat down. Max sat down in May's seat. I turned.

"Hey, so what's going on now? Sorry I'm late. They said I could go once I finish the work." I nodded.

"Another appeal's round, to decide the 4 who continue since there were 2 ties last round."

"That's strange." I nodded.

"Only 4 will continue."

"Why don't you pick 2, make it easier on them."

"That's a good idea, I'll go tell them."

"Alright, I'll stay here." I went back stage. May walked over to me.

"What's going on? You think of something better?" She asked.

"Max says we should just pick the top two to continue on in the last match. That way it will save the pokémon some stress from two rounds before they go against us."

"I think Mrs. Rosily, Max and I will judge while you can take care of everything back here, does that sound good?" I asked her.

"Sure." She responded.

I went back with the rest of the class and then walked over to Mrs. Rosily. "Would you mind judging these next appeal's round?" I asked her.

"Not really, I'd actually enjoy that. I've never got a chance to judge a contest, even a practice oe. Usually they don't even let me enter the classes. They say I'm bothering the students learning possibilities."

"Well I'd like it if you helped me judge this appeal's round with May's brother Max while May helps them around back." I responded to her statement.

"Fine then, I'm glad to be of assistance." She said smiling as she went to a seat next to the desk that May and I had at the front of the class.

"You'll judge too, okay Max?" I asked.

"Sure." He answered.

Each of the contests came and went and they received scores. Nathan got a score of 27.3. Lily got a 25.6. McKenzie got a 27. Allison got a 27.6. Nick got a 23.8, I don't think he was really trying. Finally, Amy got a 26.9. It was on a lessened version of our scale so I couldn't have expected the higher numbers but even on their scale that May and I had devised, they did quite well.

Mrs. Rosily stood up. The two that will continue on, are Nathan and Allison. Those following were McKenzie, Amy, Lily, and Nick." She read.

McKenzie went up to Nathan. Good job, you just barely got me this time." She said with a heartfelt smile.

"Yeah, next time, maybe I won't be so lucky." He said with a smile. She left the stage to sit back in her seat as Allison came on the stage.

"You think you're so cool with the calm way you go through these why I'm stressing out. You won't beat m." She said.

"Don't be so sure. And you need to calm down; you're going insane after all." He said walking to the opposite side of the field.

"I am not, and leave me alone." Allison said. "I had to work really hard to get as far as I am today, I was ridiculed by the class for the lack of creative nature had. Well don't expect that unless you're prepared to loose by underestimating your opponent." She warned.

"Unlikely, I never underestimate my opponent, especially since I've already seen how you're doing in the last few events. I'd have to be pretty stupid to think less of you after watching you go so many times." He responded.

"Don't you think that I wouldn't show my full potential during the starting rounds?" She asked him.

"No, I think you're trying to get me to do something I have no intention of doing." He responded. They threw their pokémon. They fight began. She couldn't make a move on him; he dodged and then without her noticing, attack and steal another large amount of points. "Beep, Beep." It was over. He had knocked her pokémon out.

"What?" She screamed.

May walked out on stage, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You were too focused on attacking, and you lost. Sorry." May said guiding her off stage.

Nathan sat on the edge of the stage, his legs swinging over the edge. "You and May can go now." He said. He hopped onto the ground, and sat in the front set of seats with his hands behind his head.

"Alright then." I said. May took her position on the opposite side of the field.

"Are you ready?" She asked.

"Of course." I said with a smirk-smile. We tossed our pokéballs out. "Take the stage." We yelled. I had chosen Rosélia while she picked Espeon.

"Razor Leaf." I called.

"18." She said simply.

It came at me again. It was reflect, I knew this of course. I had to which is why it didn't matter what she said. I knew her moves all too well. "Bullet Seed, Petal Dance." I answered. It was destroyed and the attack was at her again. She just dodged.

"Iron Tail." She yelled. I flinched. It was too fast. Rosélia was hit, she came sliding a bit across the stage. She didn't seem satisfied, knowing how this was going. I was loosing, with her defensive attacks, she hadn't been hit and my attacks missing caused a loss of points, as did hers but I had used 3 moves, none of which made contact. One of the two she used did and she hadn't been hit.

"Leech Seed." I called. It almost made contact; it was stopped at a barrier. A light barrier. One that was natural.

"Psychic." Before I knew it Rosélia was falling.

"Toxic." I called. Espeon started coughing. "Aromatherapy." I told her. Rosélia got the seed off of her, and since it was hers, it was easily broken. I sighed; this was an even match now. Good. "Shadow Ball."

"Psych Up and Shadow Ball."

"Protect." Rosélia still took a bit of damage but that was unexpected. She used Psych Up to make Shadow Ball, canceling mine out and used Shadow Ball again to hit me. We both really had improved a lot. "Grass Rope, Razor Leaf." It held Espeon and place as it hit her with Razor Leaf. We were even again.

"Swift." May said calmly. It hit the ropes that had tied Espeon, allowing her to go free. A move that gave her points back.

"Giga Drain." I said. "Solar Beam." The first attack hit as I prepared for solar beam. It went out and she didn't seem to move, everyone was out of his or her seats.

The solar beam hit head on, however it came back at us. Rosélia got half hit, knocking it into the wall, and out. The smoke cleared to see Espeon lying on the ground, then passed out. I went to the wall and picked up Rosélia. I walked over to May who was at Espeon's side kneeling next to it. I put my hand up. She stood up, she then carefully picked Espeon up in her arms as we went back stage with our pokémon.

She was out of breath. "That was real close. I had to hold my breath to make sure I didn't breath and mess up."

"What did you do?"

"Oh yeah. I did psychic to hold after using a light barrier to slow it down. I used helping hand to increase it back up to par, and used psychic again to hit you." I smirked.

"That was great."

"Thanks. I picked up after I saw you do the same thing earlier. It was just a little more complex since it was a stronger move and it sure took a toll on Espeon and Rosélia."

"What did you expect? In our contests against each other, our pokémon have always been at least exhausted or knocked out by the end. We're just too good." I said smiling.

"Yeah, we are." I said. "I'll take care of these two. You go there and show him the same combinations alright. Try to limit it to those we've copyrighted as combinations." She nodded leaving. I wrapped up the cuts and scraped after cleaning them up, and returned them to their pokéballs. The match started when I was done. I went down behind May, beside Max and sat watching the battle unfold.

Nathan was using a Lavitar while May was using Skitty. "Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said happily.

"Earthquake."

The ground began shaking, Skitty dug under ground. She pounced on Lavitar, stopping the earthquake. His points dropped since it really didn't do anything since he didn't use it as it should be, as a diversion. "Blizzard, Skitty." May called. It hit dead on since Lavitar hadn't gotten back up since Skitty's last assault.

"Rock Slide." Skitty dodged numerous boulders as they were thrown at her, one hit her but May didn't lose barely any points. He however did.

"Thunder." May called. It broke through the oncoming boulders, and hit Lavitar. It lost more points being a ground type. May used the attack as offense and defensive, major point loss for him.

"Sandstorm." Lavitar made a sandstorm.

"Ew." I heard faintly. Skitty was hit. Though we couldn't see, May's points dropped. When it cleared May had her hands over her eyes. She dropped to the ground.

"Quick Revenge." May called. A barrage of assist Skitty's original attacks were launched at Lavitar, smashing it against the stage wall.

"Protect." May called, again. However it wasn't protect, it was a reverse protect. Capturing Lavitar. "Thunder wave." Careful May, he just might.

"Brick Break." The thunder wave had hit in time, him dropping in a lot of points but May lost an amount too since he broke through her routine.

"Pulsation." May called. Water soaked Lavitar then it was electrocuted him, knocking him to the ground. It was confused. "Double Slap." May finished up Lavitar with a weak move, but that's all she needed. I walked on stage.

"You got sand in your eyes, didn't you?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Skitty!" It said hopping into May's lap. I grabbed her hand, pulling her to her feat.

"Well you won."

"I know. I could tell that much. At least I thought I heard I won. After all we trained our senses enough, didn't we?" I nodded.

Max came by. "Wow May, you did that without seeing through the majority of the battle. Let me take you to the bathroom so you can rinse out your eyes." She nodded. Max guided her using her shoulder into the small backstage bathroom that contestants could use.

I walked over to Nathan. "You did well." I said putting out my hand.

"Thanks. I did my best. She'll real good. As if you didn't know." I smiled nodding.

"Yeah, I've always known that. Your combinations and reactions went really well. You knew exactly what to do to resolve the problem. Your timing was a bit off but it's nothing to worry about. We'll help you fix that then you can move on."

"Thanks." He said shaking my hand. "Is she alright? I'm surprised she continued after the sand storm. I didn't think she would actually let it hit, or continue after it hit her. However, she did.

I laughed. "May… she and I've been through it all. She's trained her eyes, when she was blind for a while due to flames damaging them to see and complete in contests without them. She didn't enjoy them as much but she wanted to go on even if she couldn't see. Stubborn." I finished.

"You were real good too." He said.

"Thanks. It's really because we practice with one another so often, that we are so good. Yours was good match, you did real well." He nodded, stepping off stage to his seat beside his partner and friend Amy. She was complimenting him, obviously, when I was poked in the back. I turned around to see a smiling May.

The bell rang and the class left. "No homework." I announced.

"Got to go May, bye." Max said jumping off of the stage, onto the ground below, snatching his bag off the ground and running off.

"K."

¤ (Classes Later, Attacks and Combos) ¤

"I can't get it." A girl said.

"What?" I asked her.

"I can't tell the differences between all the classes here. They're all so similar."

"What does that have to do with this class?" I asked her.

"It doesn't, but it's beginning to annoy me." She said pouting.

I handed her a form that was in my bag. It was the basic curriculum of each class. "These are all the classes that May and I have to make sure we know about. That's all the classes we can cover as well."

**Coordinating 1**- a basic intro into the world of Coordinating; consists of taking those who didn't go very far in contests in previous years and improving their strategies, techniques. An Improvement Course

**Coordinating 2 **- a second level class on Coordinating; consists of a in-depth study on how to present pokémon in appeal rounds. Focus on Appeal Rounds P.) AC and C1.

**Coordinating 3 **- a third level class on Coordinating; consists of turning a simple battle into a beautiful show or appeal round. Focus on Battle Rounds P.) C1-2.

**Coordinating 4 **- a fourth level class on coordinating; consists of care of pokémon, making pokéblock and guidance through things a coordinator uses. P.) None, side course.

**Coordinating 5**- electronic based course. Students map out different contests moves using their own pokémon in a contest setting. Focus on the over all contest. P.) C1-3, CPU or Tech Class.

**Coordinating 6**- a hands on course with numerous real contest coordinators that undergo contests, battles, appeal rounds as well as preparation for pairs coordinating in the future. P.) C1-5

**Advanced Coordinating**- top-level coordinators seek to improve their skills by being taught faults in their plans, improving them, and challenging other top level coordinators.

**Attacks and Combos**- a study on every pokémon and what attacks to use for the best strategies and plans in contest or battle setting. For trainers or coordinators.

"Thank you, now I know what other classes I need to, and can take." She said with a smile. I shrugged.

"You're welcome I guess, though you might want to finish up that paper." She nodded and went back to work. May was lecturing a student on something at the front of the class.

Soon the class let out because it was the end of the class. I leaned back against my chair. "We should start thinking about the wedding you know." I said. She smiled happily at me.

"Yeah, I know. I think about it a lot. Don't you." I nodded.

"I mean planning. We should start planning."

"Why don't we do that after class today? We can do it at the house." I nodded. "I'm so excited about it Drew." I smiled.

"What are you so happy about?" Solidad asked May.

"We're going to start planning for the wedding." She answered happily.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, we are." May told her, happily.

"Well don't forget to tell me when it is and such." May nodded as Solidad sat down beside Harvey as normal and the class progressed and finished, quicker than any class of the day. It was busy. May and I met up with Lily and Max who were discussing the battles then went on in her class today.

We climbed in the car. "So why'd May so cheerful?" Lily asked me.

"Ask her. I'm driving." I answered Lily.

"Drew and I are going to start planning for the wedding."

"Really?" She asked.

"Yes really." I said annoyed with how many people asked that.

"That's cool so where is it going to be?" Max asked.

"We haven't started yet, that's why she's excited." I answered.

"Can they help?" She asked me.

"Sure." I replied.

We arrived at home and sat down at the table. I went to a wedding site that helps you plan weddings. "The site gives a list of 10 things to do."

Enjoy Being Engaged Tell Your Parents Buy a Journal Announce it to Everyone Set the Date Set the Tone of the Event Set the Budget Choose your Attendants Look for Venues Get Support 

"We could celebrate more I guess." I said, shrugging. "We told both of our parents now. We have a laptop we can keep as a journal. We have to send out announcements to everyone regardless of if they know, once we know the date."

"Why don't we start with the kind of wedding we want?" May suggested.

"I say we go with a simple traditional. Except individualistic to us somewhat."

"I'd like our pokémon there." She said excitedly.

"Yeah, that would suit you guys." I nodded.

"That's a definite. So what about locations?" I asked.

"Ah… somewhere between our two hometowns." May suggested.

"A park?" Max asked.

"How about the college? I mean you're going to be working there now. It's pretty and I'm sure they'd let you being teachers and top coordinators. I bet people do it all the time." Lily said.

"It's large enough for all the people. We don't have big families but we have a ton of friends that I'd like to invite." May said, thinking about it. "We could always ask since our students, friends and family would all have access to a lot of space and such. It has a huge gymnasium and auditorium as well as the cafeteria is huge. They also have the back grounds and those are beautiful." May continued.

"I think it's a major possibility, you're right, it would be nice." I said. "I'd like that."

"Now a date!" May said. "I don't remember the day we met." She said sulking.

"Neither do I. Do you Max?" I asked.

"Slateport." Max answered.

"That's the city." May said sighing. I nodded; it is the city.

"Alright then how about June 5th?" I asked her.

"Yeah!" She said.

"Huh?" Lily and Max asked.

"It's the first day we had a contest as partners. It's perfect." May said, happily.

"Alright now just to write up a invitations."

I opened a Word Document and typed up a prototype.

May Adena, daughter of gym leader Norman and Caroline Adena and Drew Kito, son of Daniela and Mathew Kito and stepson of Kane and Marne Crizten would like to invite you to their wedding on June 5th at the Pokémon Coordinating College in the Lazio Region. The wedding is a fairly traditional wedding but pokémon are allowed and invited to come as well. All fellow coordinators that they've met through the years, friends and family as well as colleagues and students of theirs are invited to attend this wedding. Please R.S.V.P. to May Adena or Drew Kito before May 15th at the return address listened or at or with the number of people and or pokémon attending in your party. If pokémon are coming, please list the pokémon that wish to attend so food arrangements can be made. Thank you, May Adena and Drew Kito.

May looked over my shoulder. "It sounds great. Good job." She said with a smile.

"Thanks, that everything?"

"We just have to call up the college." May flipped open her cell phone and dialed Mrs. Rosily's number which we both called often enough to have it memorized or on speed dial.

"Hello May, what can I do for you?"

"Hi Mrs. Rosily, I was wondering on June 5th, by any chance could we have our wedding at the college?" She asked. That's the easy way to ask, straight and to the point.

"Oh of course you two could. That would be wonderful. You have permission. I'll set it up in the books already, thanks for asking but you really didn't have to." She hanged up the phone.

"Alright then, everything is in order then." I said. I printed out numerous copies of the letter each having our address at the house, and the specific person's address on them. I also used all of May's contacts to send it to everyone she had met. Some we e-mailed since they were coordinators who were moving around, others we sent to home addresses since they'd be there. After a while everything was done."

"Now what?" She asked.

"I don't know. We have papers to grade, and we have the weekend off." She smiled.

"Yes!" She was acting like one of our students, excited about the weekend. I sighed, as we went into our bedroom to talk about the wedding arrangements further in quiet.


	20. ◊ May and Drew Split Up ◊

◊ (May and Drew Split Up) ◊

∆ (School) ∆ - ¤ (1 Months Later) ¤ - Φ (May) Φ

I woke up happily par Normal. Drew sat up and walked into the bathroom. He knew the schedule and had become well adjusted to it. he actually liked starting his day early now. I smiled; with my help, he had done it.

I went into the kitchen to see Lily making breakfast as Max watched behind her. "Are you sure you're supposed to do that Lily?" He asked.

"Of course I am Max."

"Right Max, all girls can cook." I said walking into the kitchen.

"Isn't it time you tell all the curious students in the classroom what's going on between you and Drew yet?" Lily asked curiously.

"You think I would do that. We're supposed to be focused on Coordinating, not mine and Drew's love life." I said sitting down at the table and watching them.

"I can't wait for the wedding." Lily said. "It's going to be great!"

"You bet it is, I'm excited for it as well. Like I wouldn't be." I said laughing at what I had just said.

"Too bad I can't stay all the way up until that time." Max said. "I wish I could be you know I have more badges to collect and such. I have gym leaders to see so I can be a good one myself after all. I have to be the best and do my best."

"Yeah, I understand." I told my little brother.

"Stop thinking so much about your departure because you're going to upset someone." Drew said walking into the room with a laptop bag and a stack of papers. He tossed half of the stack to me.

"I thought we already graded these." I said sighing as I started on them.

"So did I, but I found these in our to-do box so they need to be completed, so just help me finish them off so we won't have to complete them later or during class." I nodded, sighing as I read over the assignment that we had given them over the weekend. What's their weakness? The essays were quite well written.

_My weakness would have to be my fear of my pokémon being hit by any attack. I play defense most of the time and rarely focus on offense which causes me to rarely win fights and if I do I am very jumpy and not fluent while slowly failing at the same time and only winning by the end. If I could improve on anything, it would be confidence and care but not be extremely over protective of my pokémon. – _one person wrote.

Another wrote – _I really don't think I have any weakness at all, but if I do it would have to be my extreme offense. I've never taught any of my pokémon a defensive move ever. I guess I could do well to have one or two defensive moves for each of my pokémon to take the enemy off guard and add some style and all around fitness to my contest moves. I'm not sure though but I think that would have to be it, if I had any. _

We finished reading and grading them. As long as they stated what they needed to approve on and touched on, if even for a second the main source of their problems they got 30 points for the assignment. I was excited because Mr. Rosily told Drew and I he had a surprise for us. I'm curious about it and can't wait to arrive at the school.

Everyone climbed in the car as Drew drove us to school, we got out and went to our respective classes while Drew and I were called to go with Mr. Rosily instead of heading first to our class to start preparing for the day.

The room was full with other teachers. 2 of those I recognized as Ms. Markey and Mr. King. "As normal we are going to have a week long forest survival training for all trainers, students and coordinators alike. This year the teachers we are sending are for the girls. Ms. Markey, Ms. Adena, and my wife. As well as for the boys; Mr. King, Mr. Kito, and myself. Any questions?"

I raised mine. "Is this required?"

"By students or by teachers?"

"Both." I asked.

"As a teacher you don't have to but at some point in the year you'll have to go on one of these class excersizes, we just figured it would be best to send you know? As a student they are required to go, unless they are not allowed for medical purposes."

"Alright. I was just wondering." He nodded and he continued on.

"The focus and purpose of this trip is teaching the students what to do, how to travel and what they need incases where they are required to travel often." He explained. "It's a basic trip and for the next week teachers in all classes will have to explain the guidelines, rules, and setup a foundation for everything they will need on this trip. Understood?" I nodded, and took notes.

"Here are the papers that we recommend you read over and cover in all your classes, you may add anything that you think my help your students on their, what could be their first journey." Mrs. Rosily said handing a packet to everyone in the class.

"We want to prepare the students for what's to come. We don't want them to slack off in their skills while they're at this school. This will test all of their skills as trainers, and as coordinators. Then at the end of the week, those who remained without help, with compete in a small battle tournament, except teachers." Mr. Rosily concluded.

"On Thursday evening we will have a small meeting similar to this one to discuss all plans for the event as well as anything that you individually will need for this expedition. Remember as teachers, we will not help them after the end of this week but you may take your classes outside." Mrs. Rosily said.

"Also it's important to remember though we have separated the girls and the boys, remind them that during the course of the actual trip they are allowed to rely on anyone and everyone they meet but they will have to be careful what they can and can't do." Mr. Rosily said.

"So in short help them know what to do but make it so it's a challenge?" Drew asked him.

"Yes, it's similar to the preparation classes we offer except at a level equivalent to a normal day as a trainer or Coordinator in the real world. Understand?" Everyone nodded. "Thank you for using your time to take care of this meeting. You're dismissed."

Drew and I walked into the class. We had noticed that the meeting ran into our teaching time so we'd have to start on everything that was required for them. Drew would begin explaining what was going on while I typed lesson plans on our computers.

"Next week there is going to be a field exam of sorts. It's a 5 day, 5-night trip. It's starts at noon on Monday and ends on Friday, at noon. It will test out your abilities, as you will need them as a future coordinator or trainer. It's also a survival test. I'm warning you to work hard to bring everything and anything you need, within reason. Use your heads when packing and trying to decide what you may need, and what you won't."

"It's a survival test as well as a field exam all in one. You're going to have to try to prove to everyone else the impressive skill you've already shown Drew and I. I assure you, if you don't prepare, you might as well be prepared to fail the test. At the end of the exam or test, whatever you want to call it, there will be a tournament for those who have made it through and some reward, that I'm not sure what it is." I told them.

"So are we getting a grade on our performances out there?" Lily asked.

"Yes." Drew simply answered her.

"The longer you can make it out there, the farther you get, the better the grade and score you get. so the better you prepare, the stronger you are, and such; the better off you will be." I said.

"So what kinds of things are we going to be faced with out there?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, because what if I don't want to do it at all." Nick asked.

"Let me stress to you that it's required and a test so your grade will drop a lot of you… don't want to do it at all. Put out an effort at least Nick. You know if you tried, you'd be a lot better off." He shrugged and I sat down. I looked at the chart of plans for the week.

I. Tuesday - In classroom for class

a. Lessons on preparations

i. Self preparation

ii. Pokémon preparation

iii. Overall preparation

iv. Contest preparation

v. Battle preparations

b. Do's and Don'ts of Preparations

i. Do's

ii. Don'ts

The entire day went like this, we talked through everything, slowly began to clear around me and things went smoothly instead of the billions of questions we had at the beginning of the day. Each time we added the answers from the questions from the last class to our speeches so they didn't get asked again and each class went better but there were students, as always, who didn't listen.

We went home and Lily, Max, Drew and I sat on the couch. "I can't wait until next week. This is going to be great. I'll be sure to do wonderful on this event." Lily said happily.

"You've never traveled by yourself before Lily. Ash and I had to do pretty much everything for you." Max reminded her. She sunk down into the couch. "It's alright, May, Drew and I will be there to back you up 100 of the way, right?" Max asked us.

"No, we can't. It's a survival trip. You can but we're instructors sent to take those who can't handle it back to the school and help out with teaching the beforehand stuff. We can't help." I said.

"Didn't you read the papers?" Lily asked.

"No, I guess I should." Max said laughing. He walked away coming back with a book and a small packet. "Here Lily, you can read up on traveling in this book." He said handing it to her. "Wilderness Survival for Dummies." He said with a smirk.

She stood up with her arms wrapped around the book securely. She took it in her two hands and came down as hard as she could muster on the top of Max's head. So hard that in fact, he collapsed in his seat. "Lily, that wasn't nice. It's just a book. He was just trying to help." Drew scolded her.

"I know but it's the implication he made." She said snottily walking off even though I know for a fact that her personality is nothing like that.

"So you know we're going to be separated for a week. It's kind of weird after being at your side for so long." I said laughing.

"Yeah, but I think we'll both do fine without each other, for a week. I don't really want to leave but we're the best at this kind of stuff, a lot of years experience that will come in handy." I nodded, agreeing.

Max began to wake up. "I'm sorry I tried to help her."

"It's just how she was raised Max, don't take it personally. Her mom is such a stuck up person."

"No offense but that was my first take on you too." I said laughing.

"There's nothing wrong with being seemingly stuck up, is there?" He asked.

"As long as you aren't in real life. You were for a while until you opened up. You always acted better than me, and everyone else." I told him.

"I was for a long while there, until of course you took my advice and proved yourself." He responded.

"Whatever, our point is Max that somehow, as weird as it sounds, you insulted her pride and you might, for the records, want to apologize." Max nodded standing up and going to the guest hallway.

I heard her walk into the room. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to. Please, please, please for give me."

Drew laughed. "He should forget about what I said about her being a prideful person. She barely has any self respect that can be seen."

I sighed, walking away. "She likes Max and she doesn't want him to be angry at her. She wants to stay on his good side, she'd do anything, even put her pride aside for love. She's a real girl Drew." I said smiling.

"You do that too?" He smirked. "If you did, I don't remember. All I remember is when I insulted you, you had a come back and walked off. I don't remember you forfeiting your pride for me."

"Like you'd respect me for forfeiting my pride. You'd just step on me. I would just be like 'as if' and walk off." I said laughing at how different we are now, compared to them. We returned to the living room.

"We've sure changed." He said sitting down.

"Everything changes, just like our pokémon do. Do you think Rosélia will ever change, or even if she wants to, or could, would she?" I asked him.

"That's quite a random question you asked there, but I don't know. I've never thought about. I think she's happy at being who she is, at least for now."

We got ready for dinner. I made it, Drew prepared the table and Lily and Max were not yet heard from which was fine with me, though I was quite interested on what was going on in there. "May!" I snapped out of my thoughts. I had been thinking a lot more than that through dinner.

"What Drew?" I asked him.

"You almost stuck your hand in a burning pot of salsa." He said smirking. "What's on your mind? I can't really narrow it down to anything exactly in particular. I mean it could be anything. So what is it?"

"A lot of things really. I don't focus on one thing for too long. It gets boring." I said with a smile. I kissed Drew's cheek and skipped off into the bedroom, leaving him to finish up.

I sat down at my desk, logged on top my computer and opened the journal I had started a month ago when we started planning for the wedding, it was one of the things, the site had suggested and I kept an open mind to it, and started a journal.

October 5th – 7th Months 

_I can't say that I'm not going to be upset for these next few days since this is the first time in 5 months that I've left Drew's side and I've become more than accustomed to it. I know it's only 5 days but when you're so caught up in your normal schedule that you don't think it's going to change for a long while, and it does just then, it's kind of upsetting. I know I have to, and so does him but me really don't want to. I wish I knew what to do. I guess if I feel lonely or upset I could IM or call him, after all Drew and I aren't limited in what we can pack and bring, so it's fine. I can't wait for the big day to come. I'm so excited but this is one obstacle that's in our way that I think I may have a problem over-coming, but I hope it's not that. _

I saved the changes, got off and went into the kitchen. Drew carried the salsa into the table and I grabbed the pasta and brought it to the table. I sat down. "I'll go get them." Drew said, walking into the other room. He came back followed by two blushing people whose names were Lily and Max.

"I'm sorry about taking so long May." Max said.

"I am too." Lily said sitting down at the table beside me.

"It's perfectly alright, don't make such a big deal out of it. You weren't even late. We had just finished and went to get you. Don't bother over the small things?" I told her.

She giggled. "You sound like Drew does when you thank him too much for doing something small. It's funny that you picked that up so fast."

"I guess that is pretty funny that I did that. I didn't think I'd pick up on Drew's behavioral changes, but I guess I was wrong. I really don't care. I'm used to all of them so using them naturally is just something I've taken to just as easy." I said.

"Do I act like you?" Drew asked me.

"You're less to yourself then normal. You're starting to open up, talk more and be more cheerful which are more of May's thing but you're both sort of becoming each other, it's funny." Max said laughing.

"Hm. I didn't think that would happen but who cares if it does." I nodded as I continued to eat the meal Drew and I prepared. I didn't mind at all. Drew stood up. "I'm going to go outside for a while."

"Yeah me too." Max said, following afterward.

Drew and Max were out doing something together, most likely preparations for the trip while I was sitting in the dining room with Lily. "So are you ready for this trip?" I asked her.

"Not really, like Max said, I'm really not very good at this. I've always relied on someone like Drew or Max for help and relying on myself is honestly a bit frightening."

"Don't worry I'll be there so if you can't handle it I'll escort you back to the school. You'll be fine. They wouldn't let you starve out there and we'll be teaching you all week how to handle it." She had a smile on her face and she hugged me.

"Thanks so much May, it means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it, it's nothing big. I mean after all, we're going to be step-family soon." She nodded, but frowned. "Is there something that I don't know that's going on?" I asked her.

"I really don't want Drew to leave me. Not again, not yet at least." She said wiping the tears from her eyes. I guided her into the living room and sat next to her on the couch as I rubbed her back.

"He's not leaving you, or me, or anyone else. He'll always be here, if you need him, you know where to find him, right?" She nodded, still quite sad.

"Come on, stop crying. Drew is your stepbrother; he'll always be there for you. He knows his mistake and he wants to make sure it doesn't happen again, and I assure you. I won't let that happen. I know how you feel because you've made it more than clear to Drew and I've made it more than clear to Drew how much you hurt because he left you. I know he won't do that again. You do trust me right?"

"Yeah, I know you'd never do that to me. I'm glad that you won't let Drew leave me for his dreams but how can I be so sure that when you and Drew have a life together that you won't leave everyone out of it."

"The way things are between Drew and I now, are how it's going to be then. The only difference after marriage, is barely anything. It's just a legal obligation to be together and such. It's a whole culture thing, it probably won't change our relationship at all. Think about it, Drew and I are always running around visiting people during the summer, people like his mom, his stepparents, you and Victoria, my parents. We're all over the place, so nothing is going to change, nothing, I promise you that."

"Don't promise me that things won't change because I don't want that. Promise me that in your new lives as husband and wife, you'll find a place for me and the rest of your guy's families." She asked.

"I promise you that you'll always have a place with us, and if I began to slack on that promise make sure you remind me. I don't want to hurt anyone, so can you manage that?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I think I can." She said. I hugged her. "So what part am I going to play in the wedding?" She asked.

"As family you're not supposed to do anything. Ash is the best man and Misty is the maid of honor. You, sit and watch." She laughed.

"Alright, if that's what you want me to do, sure!" She said with a smile. We talked for a while until Max and Drew walked in the house carrying a small pokémon.

The little pokémon was sick. "What is it?" Lily asked. I took it from Drew's arms carefully and set it onto the table where Lily had threw on blankets to cover the poor thing in.

"It's an Azurill. A water-type pokémon with traits of both normal and ice as well. It's a baby pokémon." I turned to Drew. "Where did you find it?"

"It was drowning in the lake. I had Rosélia retrieve it." As he said it, Rosélia walked into the room.

"Rosélia, heal bell please." Rosélia used heal bell on the Azurill but it just barely worked, it was better but it was still a bit sick still. "Thanks but I'll bring it into our room." I picked up Azurill in all its blankets and carried it into our room. I sat down on the bed and rocked it gently like a baby. I called out Squirtle. "Alright Squirtle, can you go into the bathroom and quickly fill the bathtub with water." Squirtle went into the bathtub and it was filled with water. I called out Blaziken. She heated the water slightly and I place the tiny water pokémon in the water, careful not to let it drown again. It being early October meant the water in the springs in the forest were quite cold, not freezing but it was enough to get this baby water pokémon sick.

"You wouldn't think a water pokémon would drown or catch a cold from being in water. Isn't that abnormal?" Lily asked walking into the bathroom.

"No, it seems this Azurill is just like a newborn and shouldn't have left it's parents. It may be an outcast or got lost in the forest." Drew pulled on his jacket again.

"I'll go try to find others in the forest." I nodded as he walked off.

"It reminds me of my first adventure." I said to Lily. "On my first day I was such a ditz, I ran into a Azurill and it easily defeated Torchic and I. I didn't know that I couldn't just toss a pokéball at the pokémon to capture it. I tried to, but I didn't know any of its attacks or anything." I sighed. "Yep, I did a lot of work after that."

"I bet. If you and Drew ever have some free time to talk you should ask him about how he got Rosélia. That's a good story." I nodded, I'm sure it is. "So what are we going to do now with it?"

I picked it up out of the bath, and gently carried it in my arms as I covered it in blankets. "I'm going to call the pokémon nurse at the school. Actually can you? My arms are a bit full." She nodded taking out my cell phone, scrolling through the numbers, hitting enter and putting it to her ear.

"Hello this is Lily on behalf of May Adena." She said. She looked at me, she put the phone to my ear.

"It's May, I have a injured Azurill here and I want to know what to do to help it. It's a newborn baby it seems. It was drowning when Drew found it. I already gave it a warm bath and wrapped it up. I'm just holding it while it sleeps."

"There isn't much beyond you can do for it. It just needs rest since it just drowned, all you can do is keep it warm and since it isn't injured nothing else will work, some food when it wakes up but that's it." She told me.

"Alright, I will thank you." I said as Lily hanged up the phone. I looked to Squirtle. "Squirtle can you help Blaziken make water pokémon food with Lily." Lily looked at me. "Don't worry there is a recipe book in the cupboard, a bunch of berries are in the cupboard and Squirtle will help you find the berries that water pokémon at young stages like him and then Blaziken will cook them."

"Alright, but after this is over you're going to teach me to make berries so I can use it on the test. I know it's an advanced level class skill but you just have to, for me." I laughed.

"Of course I will. I have no clue why they consider berry making a upper classman skill because any coordinator needs the skill, regardless of where they are. Because all pokémon need food." I nodded and she went into the kitchen to make the pokéblock.

Azurill was laying in the piles of blankets I had set on the bed as I checked how it was doing often. I rubbed its stomach gently as it slept. Soon it's little eyes opened and it stared sadly deeply into my eyes. "Azurill," It said as it began to cry.

"It's alright Azurill. I won't hurt you. I'm here to help you." I said. Squirtle hopped onto the bed, Azurill was frightened. "He won't hurt you either, calm down."

"Squirtle, Squirt, Squirt, le, squirt tel." It exclaimed to Azurill, giving it pokémon food. It took one block itself and ate it happily. Azurill took its tail and poked the food, tossing one up in the air, it came down, into its mouth.

"Azurill!" It said happily, jumping up and down.

"I'm glad you liked it Azurill. I'm sure we have much more."

"As if," Lily said walking into my room, covered in berries and splattered pokéblock. I laughed and so did the other pokémon both behind and in front of her. "You can do it." I nodded going into the kitchen. The kitchen was a mess too.

Drew walked into the house. "There doesn't seem to be any more ones like him around. I couldn't find any water pokémon at all surprisingly. That spring has no water pokémon in it." I frowned.

"So we keep it here, and let it go when it's better?" I asked.

"You could always get another pokémon. We're not coordinators so it doesn't matter how many pokémon you have on you or with you." I nodded.

"I think I will, if it'll let me." He nodded as I finished cleaning up the kitchen as he started making pokéblock for the Azurill just to have enough for all our pokémon.

Later in the night, after Lily and Max had gone to bed. While Drew was still sitting at the kitchen counter doing paperwork I made our lunches for tomorrow since I didn't feel like returning to the house for lunch tomorrow; neither did Drew.

"Azurill!" It yelled hopping happily across the floor into my arms. I lost my balance and fell to the floor. Drew was interested at the site but returned to doing paperwork. I gave the little pokémon a small bit of cheese and finished packing lunches. I sat down with the pokémon at the table and finished paperwork with Drew for another 20 or so minutes.

I changed and got ready to bed, as Drew had already done as he sat in the bed with a novel of some sort. Azurill jumped on the bed and curled up my arms. I smiled. "Isn't he so cute?" Drew looked over at me from his book.

"He's adorable, yes." Drew said. He set his book on the bed stand beside our bed and went to sleep. I curled up in the blankets with Azurill still in my arms and slowly let myself fall to sleep.

¤ (Next Day) ¤

I woke up and Azurill was on the floor staring at me widely. "Morning." I told it. I turned over to see Drew was not there; most likely he was taking a shower. I walked into the kitchen, carrying Azurill as I made breakfast along-side Lily.

"So are you going to keep him?" Lily asked, referring to Azurill.

"I don't know." I looked at Azurill. "You want to stay will me little guy?" I asked him. It shook its head and ran outside.

Outside there was no one. I grabbed my jacket, picked up Azurill and ran off into the forest. I didn't see anyone. I called out Espeon. "Espeon." It ran deep into the forest, where I saw a little boy sitting up in a tree. I set Azurill down.

"Are you alright up there?" The boy coughed and fell down on top of me.

"May, what are you doing? Who is he?" Drew asked coming over to me.

"I think this is Azurill's partner. He ran off and I just followed." I answered Drew. "Can you carry him inside?" I asked.

He tossed a pokéball into the air. "Flygon, can you help me bring this boy inside."

"Fly!" It hissed at Drew. Drew carefully picked up the young boy and set him on Flygon's back. We ran back after Flygon to the house.

"What do you think he's doing out here?" I asked Drew, running back to the house.

"I doubt he's a real trainer. He looks to only be about 7 or so." Drew said. "He may have wondered here and got lost." I nodded.

Drew moved the boy to our couch, and I covered him up with the blankets we had used yesterday to aide in helping Azrill. "I'll stay here and take care of him. Someone has to." He nodded, understanding the argument.

Azurill looked sad about whoever this person was to him's condition. Drew took Lily and Max to school who both hadn't said a word about what was going on.

The temperate today was only like 8 degrees Celsius. (A/N: I use Fahrenheit honestly. This is about 46 degrees.) It was cold outside with all the rain no wonder the poor kid's running a fever and is so sick he passed out. I just can't think of any reason why he would be out in our yard, this time of year, for any reason.

I sat there in a chair and watched the kid as he slept. He had blonde hair; it was pretty short cut. He looked nicely clothed, not as though he'd been starving or lost in the forest and got in a lot of trouble.

"Hey you, wake up!" Someone yelled. I opened my eyes to see the boy looking at me. He was in the same lying position he had been in earlier.

"Yes, what is it? Do you need something?"

"Where am I?" He asked now calm and scared. "I was walking around the neighborhood because my mom had just left for work around here, at the school, you know. Well… I guess I got lost trying to find her because Azurill was sick and so was I with a really bad fever but he left the house and I guess I passed out and you found me huh? That's all I can figure."

"How old are you?" I asked.

"8. And you? Oh wait, sorry. My name is James Markey. Do you go to the school up there? Did I make you miss a day by watching me, if you did, I'm sorry."

"I'm actually a teacher there myself. It's alright, my fiancé can handle our classes by himself. Well not my class but I'm sure they'll find a sub. So what do you want me to do for you?" I asked sitting up.

"Could I have some food? I'm hungry. My mom has stuff for me back home, but I don't know my way back. I don't really know where I am."

"You're at the boarding centers for the College. Your mom is Mrs. Markey huh?" He nodded. I took out my phone and dialed her number. She didn't answer. "Well she probably has her phone off during class and my fiancé Drew has the car, and I don't think it's best for you to walk around in your condition but I can manage to make you some soup."

"Thank you. What's your name again?"

"Sorry about that, I'm May Adena. I'm 16 years old by the way." I answered his previous question.

"Alright, so who's your fiancé?" He asked me.

"Drew Kito."

"I heard of you guys from my mom. She was talking about the amazing coordinators you are and how you're teaching at the school with her now." He said. "I didn't hear you two were engaged though."

"It's a secret so don't tell anyone. We're going to announce it later. Actually, we sent her an invitation to the wedding, so she should know so go ahead and do whatever you want." I said laughing.

"I don't feel like moving." I handed him the soup and watched as he slowly ate it. I picked up my phone and called Drew.

"Hey May, what's up with that kid there?"

"He's awake and he's Mrs. Markey's son. He was sick and looking for Azurill when he got lost. Can you tell her about this and then come pick us up so I can take him up to the school and head to classes again?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but I'll have to wait until lunch. Actually, never mind that, Mrs. Rosily said she'd come get you two and take care of him, alright?" He asked me.

"Yeah, thanks Drew." I said hanging up the phone.

I looked at James. He was just sitting there eating his soup. "Mrs. Rosily is going to take you to your mom and me to school. Do you think you can move?" I asked him.

"Yeah. I think my fever actually did better in that cold weather for a while, it felt nice." I place my hand on his forehead.

"Yeah, your fever broke, that's good. I'll get you a blanket to use until you get there I said walking into the other room and grabbing a warm blanket from the closet. Mrs. Rosily came to the door. "Hi, we're ready to go." She nodded, leading us into her car. He was curled up in a blanket while I sat in the front with her. We arrived at a house. Mrs. Markey was standing at the door. She helped him out of the car and practically pushed him inside.

"Thanks a lot May, I'll remind him not to leave next time." I handed her Azurill.

"Um… his Azumarill had children and this is one of the babies, so I'm sure if you would like it… James would love for it to go to a nice home like yours."

"Maybe another day, unless you want to Azurill."

"Azurill." It jumped back into my arms.

"I guess than I'll keep this little pokémon, thanks so much." She nodded, going inside as I got back in the car with Mrs. Rosily as we returned to the school so I could assist Drew in teaching for the rest of the day.


	21. ◊ The Trip :: Part 1 ◊

◊ (The Trip :: Part 1) ◊

Φ (Drew) Φ - ∆ (The Forest) ∆ - ¤ (Days Later) ¤

I woke up to the sound of May preparing everything she could for the trip. We were so tired from all the problems we had ran into with the students about their packing and such we had forgot to pack ourselves so she was rushing to pack for herself. I had too.

I quickly slipped into my clothes for the day, and began packing, quickly. I packed food, my laptop, my pokémon and other such essentials such as clothes. The students were allowed to stop in on any of the cities along their way, the only thing was, unless they were hurt or injured, they couldn't stay there. Each town was a good day's walk away. It was a major exam.

I walking into the kitchen where I heard and saw Lily running the berry blenders with haste. I doubted weither or not the food was of use to her. I took a bit of a piece and ate it. I chocked. "Drew, are you alright?" May asked walking into the kitchen. She looked at the remaining bit of pokéblock in my hand and put it in her mouth.

"Lily, I thought May taught you how to blend berries."

"Yeah but I don't have enough time, I'm going to be late." She said worried.

"Yeah but you won't get very far today if your pokémon are sick because of this food." I told her.

"Yeah, let me help since I'm already packed." May said. I sat down at the kitchen table eating some toast and cereal since May was too preoccupied in helping Lily to make breakfast. That food was utterly disgusting. It reminds me of the time I randomly put berries into a berry blender for the first time, one of them being sickening to human. I got the blender, as well as myself, sick.

"Thank for helping me May. I know you're in a rush since you guys went to bed early to get your energy for today. I owe you one." Lily said after they had finished making different types of pokéblock for each of her pokémon.

"No you don't, but your pokémon owe me for saving their lives. Actually they owe both Drew and I a lot since they're not as sick to their stomachs as we are right now." I nodded, that stuff was sickening to humans, not as bad as the other berry since we didn't use that berry in the house, but it was still quite bad.

"You guys should get a full meal before we head out. After all, we're going to walking the entire day, until nightfall instead in the house in our beds." I said.

"Yeah, you're right Drew." May said sitting down beside me gulping down cereal and toast with the same easy way as she had her milk.

"Are all our pokémon going to be checked out for health?" Lily asked me.

"I think so. Before everyone is allowed to leave I think they're going to check out the pokémon so that they know the pokémon is able to participate in such events without endangering itself." I answered her.

"That's good. I would never let any human or pokémon got hurt on this trip just for a grade." May said.

"That's why they have so many teachers and such on the trip, to make sure nothing goes wrong, no one's in danger and that everything moves smoothly." I said.

"Really Drew?" May asked, me.

"Yeah, I think it's a smart idea." I told her.

Soon everybody climbed in the car and were off with all the sky-high luggage on their laps or in the trunk. I drove everyone to the school, parking in the spot that the school had reserved for me. We all climbed out of the car, with all our stuff, throwing it on our backs and we went to the ampatheater arena which contests could be held, or even large scale entire school events, such as this one.

"I'm excited, it'll be the first time in a few months that I'll be traveling normally again." May said.

"Your first time alone too." Max reminded her. Her cheerful face dulled.

"You'll be fine, you can always stay with Mrs. Markey along the journey. After all, this isn't a test to see if you can stay by yourself May, it's a test for the students." I reminded her. "The students are probably going to make groups and pairs as well, they are allowed too but once they loose any sort of challenge, they have to return to the nearest center to get transported back."

"I wonder why they never had stuff like this for trainers and coordinators when we were growing up?" May asked. "It would be quite useful after all."

"I'm sure it would but then again, even though we had a lot of trainers in our city, most of them just set off for their journey at first. I know I wouldn't have gone to a school for the things I've learned. I would much rather learn it myself."

"Yeah but that's just you. You were independent because of all the family problems you faced." Lily said.

"Are you worried Lily, about doing this?" Max asked her.

"No, I think I'll be alright. I mean with May's classes and Drew's advice all last week I don't think that there is any reason I should loose, well unless I loose a challenge but that's a pretty sad excuse." Lily said.

As we neared the ampatheater, I noticed how many students really were attending the school. It was a large amount of students cramped in there. Lily and Max took seats while May and I went to the front with the rest of the teachers.

"Alright, as you all know the first day is your easiest day because there are no challenges, just moving to the first point on your maps that you will receive once you sign in and get your pokémon checked out properly. Remember; don't think every day is this easy, because it's not." Mr. Rosily warned them.

May and I were given a packet with all the points on the map that had challenge points, all the students would have to have one challenge by reaching each point, two at the next and so on. There weren't many and the students could avoid them, but their maps didn't have the advantages ours, as teachers, had.

"Are you all ready?" Mr. Rosily called through the loud speakers.

"Yes!" They screamed back.

"Then let the first day of the trip begin." He yelled at them. Everyone jumped up and began running toward the checkout points to get their map and pokémon checked out. May hadn't left my side yet, she just held her new pokémon; the Azurill.

"You should head out." I told her. She looked at me nodding. I kissed her cheek. "Good-luck, not though you'd need it. I know you can handle yourself." I said.

"Thanks Drew. I'm sure I can too." She walked off on the path ahead of all the students and began the journey, I would head out after half or so students had left that way if some were left behind, I could help them back. After all, that's what I was there for.

I sat their and soon large groups of people had been dismissed I set out, traveling paths that most students would avoid, the ones that you needed challenges for. The ones that you needed challenges for were extremely shorter which you'd think would draw people to it but because they knew that those on the path would challenge, some avoided it, so they would loose points in risk of avoiding a conflict.

I walked along, the road was empty, as expected. Rosélia who I had a feeling would want to walk by my side was doing just that at the current moment. The silence was normally awkward, but usually when it was just her, and me; it wasn't since we were use to the silence.

I heard voice coming from all directions. "I don't think this is going to work. We wait for someone to come, to challenge. Isn't that a waste of time?" I heard a voice ask.

"No, because any strong person who wasn't afraid of being kicked out would be here, for the challenge. Anyway, even if we continued on, it would be no use since we have to challenge before we can pass. So we wait."

"Oh I see where you're coming from. You think that if we just sit and wait, eventually someone will come. We challenge them, and we can continue on." The first voice said.

"Exactly, now keep quiet. Someone's coming." Two figures jumped from the trees. They looked to be kids of about 10, new to the world of training or Coordinating, whatever applied to them.

"Hi." The quieter, first voice said. He seemed a bit younger than the second man did. "Can I challenge you?"

"No. You are aware you can't challenge today anyway, right?"

"No, we can't?" The first boy questioned.

"You're not allowed to on the first day. Everyone has to get situated first. Anyway, the people will let you through if it's still the first day. You can wait for a challenge and waste time or catch up and see as far as you can go without needing to challenge. It a quicker path anyway." I said walking off.

"Who are you?" The second boy questioned.

"I'm Drew Kito." They nodded, following to the left and right side of me.

"I'm sure you have more information to share with us."

"No, not really." I answered.

"Then how did you know about that stuff?" The second more talented boy asked.

"If you were paying attention while Mr. Rosily was talking you would have heard that. I was just stating what he was saying."

"You mean the principal?" The quiet boy asked.

"Yes, that's Mr. Rosily." I told them.

"I never listen but I think, if it helps me not to get stuck in knots like this, I'm going to start." The louder voice said. He seemed to be bossing around the other kid since he seemed to have no clue what was going on.

"I will as well. Thank you for the help." The quieter boy replied.

They continued following me for quite a while. I had no clue why; maybe they thought that I was a student, even though I told them I was a teacher, didn't I? Now that I think about it, I don't think I did.

I wondered at this moment how the others were faring, I mean it wasn't far at all into the trip so there is now way they had already got themselves in trouble was there? May, if anything will probably just be depressed along the trip missing everyone; then again I think she can be dependant now. Lily is probably made friends with another girl somewhere, and the same thing with Max. Maybe they met up with each other, who knows? How could they not know I'm a teacher, I was up with the teachers. I am around the school teachers. I teach, how could they not? I internally sighing as they continued to befriend me unbeknownst to them, I was a teacher.

Before I knew it, it was noon. "We should stop for lunch." I suggested. The boys looked at me.

"Alright Drew, let's stop for lunch." The kid said. "I'm Michael Conner by the way."

"Edward Martin," the other boy replied, quietly.

"Alright, Michael and Edward."

"Everyone just calls us Mike and Ed. It's easier." Michael replied.

"Mike and Ed, eh?" I asked. They nodded. "So what did you pack to eat?" I asked, curious to how well they were taught.

"Um… I brought a bologna sandwich, and a bunch of other snacks along with fruits and such." Ed said as he took out the lunch he had brought.

"I just brought some beef and noodles. I don't usually eat much on journeys. I'm not a big eater. That's what I eat for most meals, it suits me fine." Mike explained to me.

"So you guys have been friends long?" I asked. "Or did you just meet up?"

"Nope, we have gone to school during the summer together, so not long, a couple of months, 4 or 5 maybe. We have all our classes together so we've been friends for a while." Mike answered.

"Yeah, he's more of a leader while I'm more of a follower."

"Yeah but you also seem to have a lot more knowledge of these kinds of subjects then I do, which is cool. You must study a lot, don't you?" Mike asked.

"Not really, I study daily during the week and sometimes on the weekend but I really just focus on memorizing anything I'm given, taking it to memory." Ed said.

"That information, useful or not with be useful on journeys and tournaments. You'll never know when things you've read will come in handy." I said.

"I know that for sure. So how many years have you attended the school?" Mike asked curious.

"This is my first." I responded. "I'm going here with my friend; it's her first year too."

"Oh really, what's her name?" Mike asked interested.

"May Adena." _For now. _

"I think I've heard about her before. Now that I think of it, I think I've heard about you before two. Drew… Kito?" I nodded my head.

"May and I are… team coordinators." I wasn't sure the kind of reaction I would get if I told them I was a teacher. I could just go along with it, no harm. As long as I don't help them do anything illegal. "We just won the grand festival in this region recently."

"I knew I heard of you. My sister came to visit me while I was in school and told me about the different coordinators she met. I remember her mentioning you guys. You guys were awesome from what she described."

"Thanks." I answered. "By the way, how old are you two?" I asked. I was 16 but they seemed a bit younger than I was.

"14." Mike answered.

"13." Ed replied quietly. "What about you?"

"I'm 16 years old." I told them.

"Really, that's cool. In two years I'll be 16 too. I can't wait. Can you drive?"

"I drive to school everyday."

"Why don't you just drive through the entire path?"

"They wouldn't let you do that anyway. It's practically cheating but it's not allowed." I told them.

"So where do you live?" They asked me.

"In the living quarters along the north road that leads to the school." I replied.

"By all the teachers?" Ed asked.

"Yeah." _With all the teachers. _

"How did you manage to get a house for yourself? They only have houses out there, right?" Mike asked.

"Well between my sister, May, and May's brother we all needed it, so we were given it because of all the ribbons we had from contests. Scholarships." I explained.

"You're really cool. So how much longer?" He said as we continued walking at an even faster pace than before.

"We should reach the first day's gate within an hour. An another one by nightfall so you two should be past two gates without any challenge, no risks and you're already ahead of most people."

"How many gates are there?" Ed asked. _Smart kid, if students have an opportunity to get through 2 free gates, how many do you have to challenge for; simple logic. _

"Two gates to go through everyday, 5 more days besides today would make 10 gates, 12 with the two we are going through today then the real competition at the end."

"I know, I can't wait for that, once I get through these gates." Mike said excited.

"I am too." Ed answered. "Isn't there a town nearby?" He asked me.

"Yeah, do either of you need to stop?"

"Nah. I wish we could sleep in a center though." Mike complained.

"It's been a while since I've slept outside too." I told them.

"How long?"

"Since the first week of summer, when May and I set out, it was a bit late in the day and we couldn't make it to a center by nightfall." I explained.

"Really, so what did you do?"

"We slept outside. What else were we supposed to do?" I asked.

"I don't know. Wouldn't May want to sleep in a center?"

"Nah. May likes the outdoors and stars. Especially those behind the house. The forest is really nice there." I said. "So who did you guys travel with, or alone?"

"My sister… she always was doing contests while I did challenges with the gym leader."

"Where is she now?"

"Who knows, knowing her it's somewhere exotic where she's catching pokémon, and training them to be wonderfully skilled pokémon for others. She's more of a breeder actually. She did pokémon to learn about different skills, she was a trainer for a while too. She travels and learns a lot about pokémon."

"May has a friend who does that as well. I'm sure they would get along well." I told them.

"I traveled by myself for two years. I had different partners I traveled with between cities who were going the same places. It was nice to be with them, and nice to be by myself. I was fine with whatever was going on." Ed answered.

"So you and May are close, how old is she? And your siblings?" Mike asked me.

"Yeah, May and I are dating now. She's 16 as well. My sister is Lily; her brother is Max. He's 14 like you. You probably have him in your classes, don't you?"

"Nah. We're not advanced, if he's any good he wouldn't be in our classes. We're learning rudimentary stuff."

"We all start with the basics and improve upon them, I'm sure you'll get stronger soon enough." I told them.

"My sister is... well she's my step-sister."

"Really, what happened to your parents?" Ed asked.

"My father died when I was pretty young. My mom was divorced by my stepfather who married another woman who already had Lily."

"So Lily is a coordinator? Or trainer?" Ed asked.

"Coordinator, though I think she's better at battles that showing off her pokémon. She's not really very artistic and outside the box when it comes to moves." I answered.

"Could you introduce us to them if we meet again?" Mike asked.

"Of course, I'm sure May would love to meet you guys. She's really friendly and cheerful. Her brother probably wouldn't care either way, and Lily would just adore to make friends, she's like May while Max is more like me." I explained to them.

"Well, it's getting late, why don't we stop for the night?" Ed asked. I looked into the sky; it was night already. How time had flown by as we talked, it was silly.

¤ (Morning) ¤

I got up at 5 or so with the sun how I had when I was traveling alone with Rosélia. "You ready to go?" I asked her.

"Rosélia." She replied. I nodded in response. I took out a piece of paper from my bag, wrote down some stuff on a piece for them, and stuck it on top of Mike's book bag.

_Dear Mike and Ed, _

_I neglected to mention to you two that May and I are actually teachers at the school so as teachers we have to attend to the gates so I had to get an early start. I'll see you two at the gate tomorrow, most likely. Be ready with your paperwork. I'll make sure after this you get to meet my friends and family. Until then, good-luck. _

_Drew Kito _

I nodded, knowing that it had done it's job and I quickly set off with Rosélia for the next few days it would be a simple task of eating, walking and talking as well as other menial tasks that the school had given me to take care of this week but that's what I'm here for, so it didn't matter.

I arrived at the 3rd gate on the mat, this one was closed. The person was sitting on the roof of the small building looking into the sky. The sun had not yet rose so it was considerably dark. "Hello?" I called.

The figured looked at me, hopping down. The figure hugged me. "Morning Drew, I was wondering when I'd run into you. It took you long enough to get here. I've been here since last night. So how are you?" She asked with a smile.

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"Really good, the weather is great and the people that come by have been really nice too. I don't really mind doing much around here. But you're next to do a shift here. I can stay until there are people here, then I have to head off, alright?" She explained.

"Alright, I know you're busy." I responded.

We talked about what we had done so far, she had pretty much walked to the building, and stayed there while I shared with her the hilarious stories of my partners I had walked a while here with. Soon two voices were heard, "We rock, go us!" May's eyes looked surprised to hear such loud voices at only 7:30 in the morning.

Then came Ed and Mike with a form in each of their hands. They ran up to me. "Hey it's you Drew. That's cool how you told us that. I figured with the way you were talking you weren't a student. I guess I forgot to ask you but it's cool." Mike said.

"Who's she?" Ed asked pointing to May who was still sitting on the roof of the rather small building, more like shelter.

She hopped down onto the ground. "I'm May Adena. A pleasure. I'm heard a lot about you guys for Drew." She said shaking their hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you in person. We're heard a lot about you from Drew as well." Mike said. May blushed.

"Thanks. So I'll be taking those." She said taking the papers from the two boys, stamping them with a stamp in the building and handing it back to them. "I'd recommend staying at this gate to wait for others because there is no one anywhere close to up ahead. Unless you run way ahead and they haven't awoken your best bet is to wait for the next group behind you to challenge." She recommended.

"Thanks for the advice, we will." Mike said.

"Well I have to be going." She kissed my cheek. "Bye Drew, bye guys. I have other people to cover for along the path. Good-luck." She said walking off.

"Man, she's nice." Mike said.

"Yeah, we've known each other for 6 years now just from our adventures in coordinating."

"So you're dating?" Ed asked.

"Actually, engaged." I said.

"Really, that's awesome." Mike said. "Congrats."

"Thank you." Ed nodded, his way of being congratulatory.

Mike dropped to the ground, beside the shed-like building. "Now to wait for our prey." He said.

"How long do you think they'll be?" Ed asked Mike.

"Not long, I mean there was a huge group we challenged. I'm sure the rest of them will be here soon, within an hour. Most likely really close. I can't wait." Mike said.

"This is going to be a long week." I said, sighing.

"Yeah, but it's going to be exciting and fun."

"For the students it is but the teachers don't even get to watch the main events, we just stamp your papers. It's going to be long and boring until something big happens." I said. "But I'm fine with that."

"So what are and May going to do after this event is over?" Mike asked.

"I don't know, probably just go out to dinner with our siblings."

"Are they dating?" Mike asked.

"I don't know. Not officially, for dinners and such, Max asks her but I don't think its official. I've never asked." I answered to them.

"Oh. So how much longer until our opponents are going to be here?" Mike asked.

"Be patient, Mike." Ed said.

"Can I check out your pokémon?" Mike asked. "Since I'm impatient and all."

"Mine, I guess so." I walked out of the building and tossed my pokéballs into the air, Flygon, Absol, Masquerain and Butterfree all came out.

"They look cool." Mike said. "So, you have only a few types here though. How do you deal with all types, are you weaker at some points than others, or all the same?"

"I don't know. I don't really see my lack of variety of pokémon as a weakness. They all have equal strength against any type. For me, the time of the pokémon I have, and my opponent's don't really matter. Especially when coordinating is my specialty, it making up for those weak points and creating the best show you can that matters." I said.

"Yeah, I see that."

"Another key point that makes types useless is because as much as I rely on my pokémon, I have to rely on May's now. It didn't use to be like that but that's what I'm best at, working with May." I told them.

"You like that better?"

"Yeah, it's a lot harder for most people."

"I think it would be. Relying on someone else and their pokémon rather than just your pokémon. It's probably a lot more difficult." Ed suggested.

"Not for May and I, she and I, we have been coordinating for years before this so we know what to do and what not to so the only difference is just that we are doing it together instead of as opponents which is better since we know each other so well."

"Wasn't it hard being opponents if you guys were like that? And dating?" Mike asked.

"At that point we had never thought of actually dating, we just were friends and liked each other, both of us oblivious to that. We were only as talented as we were because of all the struggles we made to be better than the other." I said.

"That's cool. So you never went easy on one another?" Mike asked.

"No, I think we were actually harder on one another because we knew that we could do better than that, or be better than that. We expected the person that we liked to be real competition. We were pretty harsh on one another." I said.

"Oh." Mike said.

"Here they are." Ed said pointing to a group of 4 students arriving. I used my phone to call for a pick up for the two boys that had lost to them before. They would return to the school while the other two would probably lose, or maybe win depending on how the match went over.

"I challenge you." Mike yelled.

"Me too, you." Ed said quietly.

I watched as they called out their pokémon. Their pokémon were strong, but basic that Mike and Ed had. A charzard and a wartortle; they weren't weak at all. They also didn't seem inexperienced, either.

They turned out winning so they got two more papers and all four of the boys were taken on a bus back to the school, since they had lost. "Congrats." I said. "You can already go pass the next gate."

"Yeah, I can't wait but I think we're going to hand on a while longer since the other people are probably already to the last gate for today so I can't get to them."

"You should go talk to May, she's probably just sitting around bored actually." I answered. "You could always wait there. It gives your pokémon some time to relax from the last match."

"They didn't get hit, these guys were just as weak as the other two were. They are only 10, which is why they were traveling slowly." Mike responded.

"I don't think it would hurt to wait up with May. We can talk to her and learn more about everybody she knows through her." Ed said. "It's always good so see what's going on."

"I guess. What do you think?"

"You'll have to travel all the way out there anyway, might as well start now." I told them.

"We'll see you at the finish-line Drew." Mike said walking off.

"Yeah. I want to meet your family and friends later too. I also would like you to teach me since you seem to know what to do and what to expect. Would you mind?" Ed asked.

"I don't know. I don't care, maybe." I said as they walked off.

"Me too. You're cool. We'll be sure to meet up later. You better believe it." He said running off toward the final gate for today.

I sat down back in the building. There has been little people coming today so far, but then again the day had barely begun, it was only 11. I'm sure some of the trainers slept in, not waking up with the sun as most traveling trainers know to.

My phone rang and I answered it. "Drew, how many people have you had all morning? Those passing and those not passing?" It was Mr. Rosily.

"6 have gone by so far. 2 passed on, and four were sent back. Anything wrong, you seem worried?" I asked him.

"We're missing a lot of students. I can't imagine where they could have gone to, on this side there are a lot of them, but most are being knocked out easily and quickly but most of them are still missing. It shouldn't be this slacked." He said.

"I'll go look for them, to see if they are (Microsoft Word said this is my 100,000th word- ) in trouble or anything. There could have been an accident with a bridge or something. I'll go see." I told him, hanging up. I called back Butterfree, Rosélia and Absol as well as Masquerain as I climbed on Flygon.

We flied until we reached a path. There was a boy standing there, talking on his phone that students weren't allowed to have during the event. "Yeah Dan, I took care of all of them. 215 of them that came this way. Yeah I did what you said leaving after the two teachers had. I don't believe they were all that weak." He said.

I sighed; I didn't need a top-notch kid knocking out all the others. That won't teach any of the students anything about surviving and traveling. I sighed; I guess I'd have to deal with this myself. It would be more exciting then waiting for the cause of the missing people to come to me, or waiting for the missing people.


	22. ◊ The Trip :: Part 2 ◊

◊ (Trip :: Part 2) ◊

∆ (Somewhere in the Forest) ∆ - ¤ (Same Day – Day 3) ¤ - Φ (May) Φ

My phone rang, "Hello?" I asked.

"We're having a big back up in the beginning. I'm sending my wife over to pick you up."

"Oh. No one else is coming?" I asked.

"No, there is a boy defeating everyone before they can leave. Drew is going to need your help most likely during this fight."

"Alright, I'll get ready to go."

"Thanks." Mr. Rosily finished, I hanged up. Why would Drew need me? He can handle a basic student, that is, if the student is one.

Mrs. Rosily soon arrived and I climbed into the car. "What's going on?"

"Don't worry so much. It's not anything you should be worried about, May. We just figured that if Drew would need anyone, it'd be you."

"Why would he need me?"

"You see, Drew's opponent likes to have good battles. They take whatever your best at and fight you at that. When Drew goes against him, Drew's best at contest style partner battles, so he'd need a partner. In order to give your opponent a good fight, Drew needs you." Mrs. Rosily explained.

"How did the student get so far with it?"

"Students who think that they're better than everyone and go off on their own, by themselves. They become easy targets from this kid. This kid is strong. He's one of the strongest and best students we have."

"Shouldn't he get in trouble for this?"

"The point is… he followed the rules. There is no rule that you can't knock out anyone who you cross."

"Why not?"

"Because honestly, in the end, there is only one who will go on. So we didn't think it would hurt. We didn't figure anyone would be stupid enough to defeat everyone."

"Oh. I would guess that."

"Outsiders are always right. Come on. We have to make sure that everything goes well." I nodded, climbing out of the car.

I ran over to see a kid, about our age standing there. Drew was there two. "Ah… you're both here. This is what I've been waiting for all day. I didn't think you'd both pass me by."

"Well we did. I really want to get back to everything, so can we just leave?" I asked, annoyed by him.

"I challenge you both to… your favorite activity by far. I want it to be a two on two contest-style battle. After all, that is what you're best at, correct?" He asked.

"Sure I guess. We are the cup winner, so I guess it would have to be." Drew replied. "Let's start."

"I'll be the judge." Mrs. Rosily said beside her husband. He nodded as well.

"Fine, very well." The boy said.

"What's your name anyway?" I asked.

"Shawn." The boy answered. (I bothered my sister and her friend 10 minutes to make up a name for me. I was to lazy to do it for myself. Thank you!)

"Well Shawn, you better be prepared for a real match. We will win."

"Um… one problem Drew. He doesn't have a partner."

"Of course I do. I met her on the way here. She's talented in this stuff. Her name's Lydia. She's my partner. Come on out." Shawn called.

A girl wearing a pink sweater and a blue jean skirt walked over, carrying a pokéball in her small clenched hands. "I'm Lydia. Hello." She said.

"May Adena." I said. Drew shrugged. "This is my fiancée Drew Kito." I introduced to them.

"Ah. All right. Shall we continue?" Shawn asked us.

"Um… now?" Lydia questioned. She seemed shy and nervous around him.

"Yes now Lydia."

"Alright then." She knelt to the ground and rolled her pokéball across the contest field. It opened to let out a large dragoness pokémon, Dragonair. The pokémon snaked around her body and she smiled petting it. "Are you ready?" She asked.

"What's your last name and age?" Drew asked her.

" Lydia Pyrite, 16."

"Allison is your fraternal twin isn't she?"

"Yes, she is." Lydia answered quietly. "What do you know of my sister?"

"She's our student."

"Oh… you're a teacher?" She asked.

"Yes, we are. Are you better or worst than her?" Drew asked.

" Lydia's definitely better than her sister, Drew. Don't underestimate her." Mrs. Rosily said. " Lydia is trained in coordinating. There was a small district competition here for coordinating years back. She won. She beat her sister in the first round easily."

"I have won, but I wish to improve. It starts here. It's a pleasure to go against you."

"You should all start now. The day is getting late." Mr. Rosily advised.

"Alright. Let's begin." Lydia said. Dragonair took a position on the field.

"Charzard, you're up." Shawn said to his pokémon.

"Fire and Water blitz." Lydia said. Our pokémon, Rosélia and Skitty who we had called out got hit by the attack.

"How did that hit us?" I asked Drew.

"Psychic hold, combined with an attack. They've been trained to do that automatically. At least hers has." Drew answered.

Alright, now I know what to expect. "Assist." I said, both Drew, and everyone else was surprised. I liked assist when handling the situation like this. The enemy didn't know what to expect. They used a fire attack to fight back against it, luckily it was silver wind so they were hit with their own attack.

"You!" Shawn yelled.

"Ice Beam!" I said. It froze Charzard, knocking him out cold, easily. Lydia was shocked. That wasn't even the half of it for Shawn. "You were too focused on my countering that it left you open for another attack."

Her points were down to half. "Can I go now?" She asked. "My presence here is no longer required and I wish to go home."

"Home where?" I asked her.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I want to return to the traveling. I'm behind with this, so I want to continue on." Lydia said.

"She's a focused girl." Mrs. Rosily said.

"Yeah, we'll take you up to where you should be. Mr. Rosily, you should take Shawn back to the campus and watch him." Drew advised.

"Yeah, I'll go along with Lydia once Mrs. Rosily drops us off." I said to him. "Come on Lydia. We gave to go." She nodded, we all climbed into the car.

"Thank you. He was very threatening if I didn't help him. In the end… I couldn't do anything."

"Of course you couldn't. Being good at individual Coordinating doesn't mean you'll be good at pairs. And being good a individuals means nothing if you can't work with your partner as well as the fact that he had no Coordinating experience. It was a hopeless situation from the beginning." Drew said.

"So he forced you, how?"

"He could beat me if we had a fair 1 on 1 battle. I know he could. He's stronger but when he said that he would let me go once I helped him, he wouldn't defeat me I decided to help. I didn't think it would cause any problems." Lydia said. "Sorry to be a bother." She said.

"It's fine. He'll be taken care of at the school. So you trained Dragonair to automatically hold the pokémon while you attack?" I asked her.

"Hai, it proves to be helpful when using a strong opening move. Everyone expects a strong attack, so I prepared for it better than most would expect anyone too."

"That's a good move. Do you mind if we share your idea, and or use it?" Drew asked, politely.

"Sure. I mean. I wouldn't copyright the idea because it's a good contest move. If you want, in your classes sometime I could come in and show you how I do it." She said.

"That would be great. I'm sure they'd benefit a lot from having you here to help them with that." I said happily.

"So how was it like when you were growing up. How did you end up having your first and only pokémon as it seems be such a rare one like a dragonair?" I asked curiously.

"Not many care to know how that became." She replied. "But since you do, I'll tell you." She said to me. – This next sequence in Italics is her talking about when she was growing up.

_I awoke on my tenth birthday. I was so excited. You see, in my town they didn't have a pokémon center or anything like that where you could pick up a starter pokémon so your first pokémon had to be one you befriended in the forest, a wild one. All they had were pokéballs for you. One, actually. _

_My sister came into my room after I had finished packing. She hadn't prepared much over the last few months for this. I know that I'd be the one taking care of all her needs while on this traveling journey. I sighed, it wasn't what I wanted to do. Babysitting my younger sister that is. She may only be 12 minutes younger but you can tell even by that little time how immature she is, mind wise. _

_"I want a pokémon that is super strong and amazing." She said to me. _

_"I want a pokémon that will be my friend, and stick by me no matter what." I told her. Strength is something I didn't worry about now. Strength had nothing to do with Coordinating. She had no clue what Coordinating was, but she decided to copy me and go into it also. She never did put much thought into what she did. She always tried hard to be better than me though. _

_Not long after we were sitting on a cliff and she had stuck, in the night and ate the last of 'my' food. She, having forgotten her own. I sighed as she went searching for food. She climbed in a tree, and got stuck. I went to help her, however, we both fell quickly toward the ground, past pace. _

_We screamed; she grabbing on to me. "Help!" I screamed. We were caught falling toward the ground. I opened my eyes to see that we were caught by a couple of dragonair. The gently returned us to the ground. I sat down. "Thank you." I said petting the petite pokémon. _

_"Ay-uh." It said. I petted it. "Dragon, ay-uh." It said tired. _

_"Would you like to be my first pokémon?" I asked. "I promise to take care of you, in return of the kindness you have shown me. Please?" I asked it. _

_"Air." It said rubbing against me lovingly. I smiled. _

"So that's how I got my first pokémon? What about you guys?"

"I was given a starter pokémon, Torchic, at the beginning of my adventures." I told her.

"I, along my way stumbled upon my Rosélia who was being attacked and she became my first pokémon. She was my only friend for the longest time. I had never had any friends and had abandoned my family so that's how I met her." Drew said.

"How did you meet May?" She asked.

"Coordinating." He answered as quickly as he could.

"Ah. That's great. So why did you leave you family. Or abandon them as you described?" She asked Drew.

"He wanted independence, like everyone else. His family was having too many hardships to allow him to. So he left." I summed up as quickly and as best as I could. Drew definitely didn't like talking about it. That was my job to cover that.

The car stopped at Drew's post. He kissed my cheek. "See you later May. A few day probably, who knows?"

"Yeah, see you Drew." I said waving as we drove off again.

"You two seem happy together. When is the wedding?" Lydia asked.

"It's scheduled for June 5th, everyone from the school and all over the world are invited. Which includes you." I said happily.

"I've never been to a wedding before."

I laughed. "Neither have I, my first one is mine. Funny huh?" She nodded. "Well I'm sure no matter what's going on, it'll be fine and successful."

"Weddings are good things May. They're stressful, beautiful and exciting all the same. I was so happy to get the invitation." Mrs. Rosily said.

"Yeah, most people were. They, like you, replied back immediately. You should see the funny responses I got back." I said thinking back to the replies I've been getting. Most were on the same day because people knew that was important so already set it up for that day.

When did you a Drew go out?

A wedding, for you and Drew?

I didn't know you were getting married.

Be there and congrats.

I always knew you'd get together.

Marriage, at such a young age

I'm so happy for you May, you too Drew.

I can't wait to see you two again. Who knew that the next time I get to see you it would be your wedding?

What a wonderful occasion to get everyone together at.

I didn't even know you were dating.

This along with many other things like it were what I was dealing with when I got replies back. My family happily supported it and would deal with most of the stuff for the wedding, along with the school taking care of decorations. The school cook is doing the cooking and such things. Everyone is trying to think of presents for me and such. It's a great thing. I can't wait until I can be with Drew, officially, by law.

"May, snap out of it." Mrs. Rosily said. "You have to go." I climbed out of the car.

"Sorry and thanks a lot for everything." I said.

"Thank you as well Mrs. Rosily. See you in the end, hopefully." Lydia said.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine. The only problem is that there aren't anymore people coming for a while so you'll have to wait a while for them. Come on, let's go in the place." We walked inside the small building that was set up for people staying in the area that needed a place to stay.

"Who's your maid of honor?"

"My friend Misty who, by yelling at Drew and I, forced us together."

"Forced?" She asked.

"No, like made us recognize our obvious feelings for the other that clouded the other's obvious actions."

"I see, that's always funny to watch people like that." Lydia said.

"The funny think is, she likes a guy and they're going through the same thing." I said, as we laughed about it.

"Really, that is funny." Lydia said.

"His name is Ash. A long time ago, his pokémon, Pikachu was misbehaving and it ran off. Soon Pikachu stumbled on Misty and she scared it, destroying her bike. It never got repaired. What's also funny is the same thing happened and my bike got destroyed except it was because Pikachu was extremely sick."

"Poor Pikachu, I'm sure it's very sorry."

"It was, Ash wasn't. That sad thing is… neither I nor Misty have ever gotten paid back for the damage he did to our bikes." I said shaking my head. "I don't care anymore though. Drew drives me anywhere I need to go. I can drive soon anyway. He'll teach me soon, so I really won't need my bike anymore."

"It's still useful to have a bike. Even if you can drive." She said, laughing about the events.

"I know but I don't think he plans on paying us back for the damages to our bike. I don't think Misty minds. She just holds it against him every time they have a fight. It's funny to watch them fight. She has the most beautiful water pokémon I've seen. Except for my little newbie water pokémon. Azurill, he's adorable."

"An Azurill?" She asked excited. "Can I see it, please?"

"Of course." I pulled out it's pokéball and let it out. I picked it and held it.

"It is so very adorable, isn't that cute how it's so small and round. Awwww!" She said. She was a quiet and shy girl but she was a good person and she was definitely someone I had come to enjoy her presence.

There was a knock on the door. "May! It's us." I opened the door and two boys came in. "Can we stay with you for the night? I checked the rules. We can sleep out in any of these building centers on our way, then you can check us out tomorrow. Please?"

"I don't see why not? But guys… one of you will have to go against Lydia, she has to continue on as well."

"Sorry but already have our forms signed. Oh man, she can still challenge us. No matter what, right?" Mike said. I nodded.

"It's fine. I'll wait for someone else, later. They've already gone beyond this place. I already missed out. I'd have to beat them both. They've gone so far. It wouldn't be fair." Lydia said.

"No. Just because of that, it doesn't matter. You need two papers, so you'll have to defeat us, but not until morning. I'm tired." Mike said.

"May I ask you your names though?" Lydia asked, blushing heavily.

"Yes you may, I'm Edward. Everyone calls me Ed." Ed introduced, bowing, being chivalrous as an act of humoring the girl. She blushed and smiled.

"I'm Mike." He said shrugging and collapsing to the ground. He curled into his sleeping bag. "Night all."

"What's your name?" Ed asked her.

" Lydia Pyrite." She answered.

"Ah. I've met your sister."

"I hope that she was friendly and polite to you." Lydia wished.

"No… not exactly." – He recalls the situation.

_There was a girl I had just bumped into, knocking her books out of her hands. "Sorry." I said, politely. Handing her, her books. _

_"That was so rude of you. Watch where you're going, next time. Bye." _

"Yeah, not really." He said.

"Sorry about that. It's her personality to be… um… strong."

"Strength has nothing to do with what was going on with her. She's just a inpolite person. You may look sort of similar but your personalities are totally different." Mike said from his spot in his sleeping bag.

"Oh." She said looking upset.

"Huh? You can't be upset. I was insulting your sister. Oh, sorry for insulting her. I didn't mean it. I have a bad habit of saying what I'm thinking. Sorry." Mike said covering his mouth from saying anything else stupid.

"No, it's just I've never been told that we're different. It's always we're so alike."

"But you don't look the same." Ed reminded her.

"No, but we have similar personalities."

"Personality wise, there are only small differences." I said, bringing myself into the situation.

"Eh?" Ed asked me.

"Allison is a strong willed girl. She's also very shy and soft spoken to others a majority of the time. When she's in a situation where she has no temptations to be soft spoken she tends to be strong willed, and quite obnoxious as Drew says. He doesn't like talking to her much after classes. She's not at all as polite as you are." I said.

"Really?" She asked.

"And I can tell, like Mrs. Rosily said, you're a lot stronger and smarter than her. Her attacks were like basic Coordinating stuff that they teach you to do from day one in those training courses offered in most major hometowns." I said laughing.

"Thank you, May. I'd like to rest though." Lydia said. (I forgot to mention that I also borrowed this name from my sister and her friend too! They are very helpful when it comes to creating names for random characters.)

"Oi May!" The door was kicked open by none other than Harley followed by a reluctant Soledad. "Hello, so many visitors so late at night. What happened, we visited earlier but you were gone. We've been waiting so very long. Anything happen?"

"No Harley, nothing. Some kid named Shawn wanted to challenge Drew and I; while being partnered up with Lydia here and we had to defeat him, but Lydia didn't want to continue. She just wanted to continue on the trip."

"She looks like a pushover to me. A weakling, not wanting to fight you guys."

"Would you like to base your grade off of how well you do against Drew and I working with another person in the room?" I asked him, insulted.

"It's alright. I deal with this all the time. Anyway, I'll just challenge them both in the morning. It's no problem." Lydia said going to sleep in her sleeping bag as she was prior to their entry.

"Go to sleep you two," I told them. "You have a challenge early tomorrow, don't forget." I said with a smile.

"Whatever May, I can handle it."

I awoke the next morning and was surprised to find everyone still sleeping. I wonder if they're just extremely tired or they always sleep in this late. "Everyone up!" I called to them all.

"What time is it?" Mike asked.

"Seven." I answered.

"Man, so late. I shouldn't have slept in."

"You'll be fine. No one else is up this early but I want you to get going since you wasted time last night with waiting her." I told them.

"Fine." Mike said. "You've sure changed since yesterday."

"She's probably just tired, it's early still." Ed said.

"That's right. Okay, so who's first."

"I wish to challenge Soledad and Harley." Lydia said.

"I'll be your partner." Ed said with a smile. "Except I don't know anything about Coordinating.

"I will, because I do." Mike said. "My sister taught me all about it."

"Really?" I asked. "Because I always could as well. I'm not supposed to challenge students, but it would remain her challenge."

"I'd rather be partnered with Mike than you May. It gives me an unfair advantage with you being a teacher." She answered politely.

"I understand. I'll just be judge." They nodded and the battle started. She picked her dragonair, while he picked his Magmar which was a considerably good pokémon. Not an average one like I had expected. He seemed like a really strong trainer, but can he coordinate is the question.

Harley attacked using Cacturne but Magmar attacking using a fire blaze to bounce him back, meanwhile Solidad 's seal attacked Magmar, but dragonair but used protect to save magmar. Smart move. "Reflect dragonair." The water attack was blasted at Cacturne, twice as strong, knocking it back. Magmar followed up with a fire attack at Seal. Major damage had been inflected on both of them.

They did a combo that I couldn't even follow at it hit dead on, straight at them. Knocking them both out. The entire time they had worked together perfectly. It was amazing. I would describe it as the natural way that Drew and I worked together. Most of the time words weren't spoken between us, we protected the other, and planned everything ahead of time. It was great.

"Two wins for both of you. You two can pass." I said. They were given two passes to continue.

"Here," Mike said handing them both to Lydia. "I don't want you to be knocked out quite yet. I also don't want to be knocked out, so this way when we meet up people ahead, you don't have to fight them, or Ed either."

"I could never ask that of you." Lydia replied.

"Sure you could. I don't want to fight. It's like me loosing, without loosing so I can continue on. Why don't you come with us?" Mike asked. She was a year older than him, but that didn't matter. I think she was enjoying the attention. I laughed.

I walked over to Harley and Solidad. "We lost, how pathetic." Harley said, pouting.

"I know, isn't it. By a 15 year old girl and a trainer who have never done pairs in their life."

"You don't need any skill to be good at pairs. Drew and I won our first contest without ever doing a single pairs match. It just takes to people covering the other person and planning a strategy for themselves, helping the other at the same time. It's difficult for some, and others, it's simple." I said smiling as I walked in the house; they followed.

¤ (Several Days Later) ¤

I sighed, I had arrived finally at the spot the tournament would take place at. Many students were already there, some more were still arriving every minute. I smiled to see all those friends I had made along the way, there. I sighed, sitting on a bench, closing my eyes. A presence sat next to me. "Hey May, you seem to be exhausted."

"I had to deal with everyone who was coming over at the last gate all morning, it was ridiculous. I didn't think they'd make me do that. It was so annoying." I said sighing. "I'm so tired. Do you mind?"

"No, I don't."

"Thanks." I said as I leaned my head on his shoulder gently, closing my eyes so that I could rest.

A while later, or what seemed like hours I felt something shaking me. Of course, Drew. I opened my eyes. "Is it time to begin already?"

"May Adena, will you please come up here and deliver your speech."

"What?"

"Apparently I accidentally volunteered you to make a speech. So go ahead." I sighed, as if I wasn't tired and annoyed enough.

"Thanks Drew." I said sarcastically, going up the aisle to the stage front as everyone watched me.

"I'm sorry we pushed this on you. We asked Drew, he said your better at speeches, so there you go, here you are." Mrs. Rosily said as she finished telling me this. I walked up to the microphone.

"Hello all students, staff and even visitors who I've seen along the way. Welcome to the tournament that ends this week of trials, problems and most importantly, of learning through experience. Honestly I'd much rather be back sleeping at the house I share with my fiancé: Drew, his sister: Lily and my brother: Max, rather than be talking to you because I'm too tired to do anything more. Nonetheless, I'm here and dealing with what I was told to do. This week has been annoying, troublesome and difficult for so many. Anyone who decided at the beginning, to take the difficult, shorter path with the gates was in for a big challenge with Shawn guarding the entry to the path. If you left the first day you avoided him, but after that… people were stopped right and left so many ran into problems." I said. "However, with a little detour by Drew and myself, said student was beaten and returned to the school.

"How you see me is different for everyone. I may be your teacher, your family, your friend, a classmate, a fellow coordinator, or maybe just some girl who is talking to you at this very moment. No matter how I can be related to you or not at all, I understand what each of these students went through this week. No, I didn't go through it with them this week but I talked to most of those who went by, and hosted some of them in the small quarters I was staying if they needed a place of residency for the night when it got dark. However, you may say to me. So, talking about it with them is something totally different from actually going through it. You'd be wrong, I was a trainer and coordinator for 6 years before I came here. I of course didn't travel alone, and I would have been traveling alone this year in a sadistic state if not for Drew. He noticed that I was hopeless when it came to dealing with living and training by myself so he and I had decided together. However it took a different path. The kind of Coordinating contests we were in, were pairs. So naturally, both of knowing the other so well, signed up together. And we won, and we did that a lot. During that time, many things happened and eventually we got here… because we won the grand cup and were the best. We decided that we'd go into teaching, after being asked to do so by Mr. Rosily. We appreciate that a lot. Sorry to get off subject but I've been through what you've done except for 6 years straight. If you did see me on your way here, I guarantee you learned that I sympathized with what you were going through. The school and the forest are quite different aren't they? But you can't be successful without those skills. I know. I used them. I however was never taught them which is why I was pathetic when it came to being totally independent. I don't think I would have made it far with Drew. I thank him because I have no clue where he learned how to handle it but I'm glad he taught me. Trust me; you'll be happy you learned this later." I said finishing it. "Now we start the tournament, let them show!"

Soon a list of everyone showed up on the screen and it all had a bunch of lines and grouping all over to match up all those who were competing and such. The competition started as soon as I got off the stage and the first battle began. I sat beside Drew. "You should be watching." He suggested. "These are your students."

"Our students, nonetheless, they're quite good I know. I'm just so tired." I said to him.

"You should still stay up. No matter how tired you are." He said.

"Fine alright, you've bothered my conscious enough for one day Drew." I leaned up against the back of the seat, he wrapped his arms around me and well… he held me as these things continued on. I watched the matches, and I found them exciting as students ran a full out competition like I had seen Ash in before. There was a short intermission after 20 matches had taken place.

"I see you're truly enjoying this event, aren't you?" A voice said. I turned around and saw Mr. Rosily.

"Yeah, it reminds me of the old days when I was traveling with a trainer as he went to his tournaments. I haven't seen one like this in a while. So many ages, so many events. It's great to see it again, Mr. Rosily." I said smiling.

"I'm glad you're enjoying it. That's why we've asked Drew to go against the winner of the competition. So you can watch it."

"Why?" I asked.

"Drew just said he wanted to have a good battle match since he hasn't had one in a while. So… he will be doing it. You did enough with the speech to interest and focus them all. Knowing they may get to challenge him will only help this effort further. This focus is what it's all about. I thank you."

"What about Drew?" I asked. I turned to my partner who I noticed had fallen asleep.

"He's very tired. I told him that he could sleep in one of the other rooms we have set up here but he wanted to stay with you. I think later he may want to sleep more peacefully."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll take him in there." I said nodding.

"Very well, if that's what you choose to do."

"Yeah, bye." He nodded walking off. I giggled as I poked Drew.

"What May? I fell asleep didn't I?" He asked.

"Yep, but its fine. I heard what you're doing later. He said for me to escort you to an area you can sleep at."

"I should… yeah I'm going." My face said, do it because you know you want to so he did as I conveyed and I walked him to the area. I could tell he was going to sleep soundly.

"Night Drew, I'll be back in a few hours to wake you before your match." I said with a smile as I left.


	23. ◊ Of Past and Future ◊

◊ (Of Future and Past) ◊

**∆ (Stadium) ∆ - (Drew) Φ **

A/N: Sorry that I was gone so long but I truly needed a vacation, but now I'm back for good. You'll be getting your weekly chapters now. Sorry, for the delay but everything is back to normal.

May had woken me up and now I was approaching the stage with energy, no longer tired from the stress of traveling for the past few days. I felt bad for my opponent who hadn't had any rest most likely since this all began, at least not good sleep as I had.

I stepped on the stage. Everyone was watching, but I didn't care, this was no different from anything I had ever done, most of them were younger than I was, unlike my crowds in concerts. Moreover, like normal, well recently, I had May there if I needed her, though it didn't help to know that in this situation, there was no way to receive help.

"Now here you have it, coordinator extraordinaire, Drew Kito." The stadium went into a loud screaming and clapping fit. I waved to them all. I never did care much for those in the stands, but they were supporting me, and sometimes that helped. "Drew, are you prepared to meet your opponent?"

"Sure." I replied.

"Drew's opponent is… "Everything was silent as my opponent stepped out. I smirked; this would be a good match. It was… my sister. "Victoria Kito."

"I decided even if it was a semester class I had to pay to take, this would be a good adventure. For the chance to meet you at the top, I'd eagerly do anything." Victoria said as she walked up to me, shaking my hand as though we aren't related. "Take me on, that determines what I should think come next." She said quietly in my ear.

"You bet." I said. We took our position, pokéball in hand. I took a chance to look at May, for an instant. This match wasn't a life changing choice but it was a solution to the problems of the past and the resolutions of the future. It wasn't as simple as winning the match meant she'd accept May. How everything went down is all it takes, whether I win or lose doesn't mean anything, it just means that she's going to judge whatever I do. As uncomfortable and unsettling as that sounds.

May was sitting there, looking back at me. Her eyes were calming, relaxing. I saw them say to me. "You can do it, I know you can." I knew I could do it as well, it didn't take a genius to figure that out either, but I knew that she'd need me to do my best, for Victoria would be sure to judge my every move. I looked back to Victoria.

I had never seen Victoria look so different. Normally here hair was let down so it cascaded onto her back and slightly a few strands on her shoulders. She usually wore a dark purple sweater and a black skirt. She normally wore purple and white tennis shoes. Now she was had her hair tied up into a high ponytail. She was wearing a purple shirt that one of the shoulders, in the style, was off and hanging to her side, the shirt was a bit baggy, but that was the style. She wore black jeans and as well as her same tennis shoes, and was wearing training gloves. She also had all her tags around her neck with a necklace tied around her neck too; it had small pieces of metal attached.

"I didn't expect you to change so much for me." I said.

"I changed for me, for the better." She said.

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Of course it is. I am starting my own life, and this where it begins, by freeing me from you." She answered harshly. "I deserve this, just like you did, don't I?"

"I didn't do anything to you. I just started on my own way. The only person whose life I messed up was Lily's and she's forgiven me. Our stepfather messed up our lives, by separating us. That's who's to blame. But if this is how you want to free yourself then I accept."

"Good, this means a lot more than I could say it does." She responded.

"I know it does." I responded.

"Prepare your pokémon!" They called. We pulled out a pokéball. This is where it starts, ends and the outcome is the final resolve. This may just be one of the biggest and hardest matches to get through with, since it's being fought on too many levels. It's beyond hard.

"Rosélia, take the stage!" We called at the same time. Rosélia was the pokémon that our father loved so much; it was my first, her first, and both our parents' first pokémon. This match mattered even more with our two pokémon in place.

"Bullet Seed!" I called.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

_"Bullet Seed!" I called. Seeds flew out of Rosélia making contact with the tree in front of her. "Good job Rosélia. For your first attack I'd say that's good." _

_"It is. I didn't get my Rosélia to do bullet seed for a while. Such an elementary attack, such strength, but quite useful for a starting attack… what do you do now?" A voice asked behind me. _

_"Toxic?" I questioned. She nodded. _

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

"Toxic!" I called, with as much confidence as I had since then.

"Using those strategies that I taught you Drew won't do anything. I know these moves, they're mine." Victoria yelled at me.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

_"Why do you always beat me? I thought I had gotten the hang of them, used them correctly and all that." I complained, sitting next to my tired Rosélia. "Sorry I failed you Rosélia." _

_"Drewbie, you didn't fail because you were bad. You were good. You just weren't better than I was. It's important to know that." _

_"I don't get it. Because you're better, you won. Which means Rosélia isn't bad and neither am I, right?" I asked, trying to understand. _

_"Yeah, but the reason why you lost isn't because of that either." _

_"Then what is it sister?" _

_"Vicky, Drewbie, Vicky, that's my name. Alright, if you really want to know, then I'll tell you." _

_"Alright tell me!" I yelled excited to learn how to fix my mistake and loosing. _

_She bent next to me and whispered in my ear. "You copied me." She walked away. "You'll never win if you can copy someone else because they'll know what to expect. They'll always win like that. Make your own strategies, and plans. That way you can win when someone attempts stupidly copying you. That's the only way to win, and the only honorable way." _

_"Alright I won't copy you sis… Vicky." She smiled, patting my head as she walked away. _

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

Alright, I won't copy you sis… Vicky. Those words were in my mind. I decided that with all the memory trips that I was going through, maybe she needed to remember the same. "Alright, I won't copy you sis… Vicky." She stopped in her tracks, and I waited, I wouldn't use her temporal break down as a chance for an attack. That wasn't honorable either. I'd never do that to my opponent, no matter what. I was taught by the three best coordinators after all. My mother and father, the very best there ever was, my role models for all the things I have become up to today… and my sister who I'm finally going to beat.

She came back to surface, with tears in her eyes. For her, those memories were so happy, but they still pained her since those memories were gone, and could never return. "You… why?"

"Because I remember now. I won't repeat my mistakes again. I almost made that mistake again." I said to her. This is where the real match begins, now!

Ж (Flashback) Ж

_"Drew sweetheart, we have a present for you!" I walked toward my mom, sitting myself quietly next to her. My father had died 3 years ago and mom married this new guy, who was scary, but I didn't do anything, I just sat quietly. That's all I ever did. _

_Vicky was seated on the floor in front of us, she insisted that I could sit by mom since it was my birthday. "Close your eyes while I go get your present, okay Drew?" Vicky asked. _

_"Yes." I said covering my eyes. _

_She ran out of the room and then it was quite. "Hands out." I put my hands out and a small pokéball was put in my hands. "I think you're responsible enough to have one, don't you Vicky." _

_"Yeah, he deserves it." Vicky said hugging me. "Come on, outside with your present." I was confused but she pulled me out the backdoor onto the patio, mom followed us, along with that guy. _

_"Go ahead Drew." My mom egged me on. I tossed the ball carefully into the air, right above my head. A pokémon landed on me, tackling me to the ground. Mom was laughing. _

_"Rose… elia?" The pokémon said. My eyes went wide with excitement as I carefully moved the pokémon off my back and looked at it, hugging it. It was a real Rosélia, my own. My mom and dad had one, and so did Vicky, but I didn't. They said I was too young, and now I could. I hugged my Rosélia. _

_"Thank you so much." _

_"It's your father's gift really. He took care of it the year before he… left us. Then I had a friend of ours take care of it. Just like Victoria's Rosélia was trained by them. She doesn't know any attacks but that's your job. You'll take care of her, right?" I nodded, hugging Rosélia. _

_"Yeah, I will." I said with a smile. I'll always take care of Rosélia. _

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

I made many combinations, between double team to sludge ball, to shadow ball, and even petal dance, her Rosélia was taking damage faster than she could make a move. She hadn't landed a scratch on me. She had a plan, I figured. I stopped and waited for her to make her move.

"Leech Seed!" She called.

I had just recently matched that move, it wasn't as strong as hers was but a counter would… It had already hit Rosélia. No. It was too fast, just as if May's was. There is no way. Unless… until I knock her out. "Rosélia… Magical Leaf!" I said calmly. Leaves came flying from every direction and Rosélia was being shocked. "At you and her, go." The leaves would let my Rosélia escape and make another move while hers was getting hit.

"Dance of 5 Elements." She called. Not that attack… Rosélia… no.

"Stop, no, move." The field was under a series of many attacks: petal dances, rain dance, thunder dance, sword dance, and fire dances that were completely dominating the field. I closed my eyes. I didn't want it to be over, but I think it was. Rosélia, be safe.

"What!" I heard Victoria say.

I opened my eyes to see that nothing had happened to Rosélia, she was just glowing… overgrow. "Special Regime." I called out. With that much power being released, it had to be enough, or this was over. I watched as the items left on the stage because of her attack came together and furred across the stage with an addition of the many other attacks in our power, and it hit her Rosélia, knocking hers out, but knocking mine into me. She was awake, but I had slid a few feet with that hit.

"Winner, Drew." I sighed, that was close, but I finally beat my sister. A world of work, but I accomplished it. My own unique technique, that's what wins it. No one can take this accomplishment away from me. I closed my eyes, petting Rosélia. "Good job, I owe you so much." I said, walking to the edge of the stage, carrying her to my seat. I rested against May, and Rosélia was on my lap.

(A while later the stadium was cleared out and May ushered a lot of people including Rosélia and I into the car. Everyone was asleep by the time the got home, except May cause she was driving and Victoria because she didn't want to.) I opened my eyes to see we were at home. "Glad to see you're awake now, time to go in. I'll carry Rosélia." I nodded gently giving Rosélia to May who carried her inside. I noticed no one else was in the car.

I went inside to see that Victoria was sleeping in a chair in the living room seeing as our two guestrooms were being used by Lily and Max, who would be leaving in a few days, at the end of the semester and such. I wonder why May would ask her to stay the night.

"She wanted to talk to you but I suggested she wait until morning since you both were so tired." I nodded as I looked to see my Rosélia sleeping in May's arms, curled up against her body. She was also surrounded by her pokémon. Her Azurill was resting on her shoulder.

"So why is everyone else already asleep in bed?" I asked.

"Cause they woke up before you, I didn't wake them up either. Victoria was awake the entire time and you were out of it, so I stayed with you in the car until you woke up. Rosélia is treated and fine now by the way. I liked your new move."

"Thanks, I think I've seen it before though, so it's not mine. I don't think I'm going to use it again."

"I know whose technique it is." May answered.

"Whose?"

She sat on the couch, after setting Rosélia carefully in a chair. She cuddled up next to me. "Your father's, Victoria said that she briefly remembered him using that technique. You must have seen it in a movie or something of him."

"Or maybe it was just luck that I'd make it up."

"Sorry but Victoria says that's the same name and move that your dad used. However they're no prohibitions on using it." I whispered quietly in his ear. "He is your family and I believe that there are no longer protected or prohibited. You however can get a protection on it, since it's your family."

"I think I might change it, so it's completely mine, and more practical. And…" I looked at here, drawing her attention and the suspense would annoy her after a while. We waited; I was enjoying the silence.

"And!" She yelled at me.

"To include you, of course." I said with a smile, kissing her and heading to bed.

I went to bed and lay back as she curled up against my side, my arms circling their body. I closed my eyes so that I could finally rest, and go to sleep. Finally… I was back in my own bed with my fiancée by my side. I missed the warmth of her body against mine. I'm sure she missed it too.

"Good-night May." I said. She was asleep so she wouldn't hear me but I wanted to say something. I had truly missed her. I was glad that things weren't how they were years ago.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

I was sitting in the empty auditorium where my next contest would be help. So far, I haven't been focusing on the contest, since I got in the city. I was focusing on, not on the contest, but my competition. One coordinator in particular. One Competitor. May Adena. My only competition. Her skill, and unpredictability, yet limitless skill. It was beyond impressions.

"Rosélia!" Rosélia called snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Drew, you're here… again?" May asked.

I was waiting for her, you could say. I wasn't trying to make sure we were at the same contests, but one in a while, was fine. It was difficult to beat her, sometimes I lost, sometimes I won. It was best not to go into such a match; it was a waste of time. Normally I was up for a challenge but around May, challenges wouldn't help me accomplish my goal of getting a ribbon cup. Therefore… it was best to avoid her, not matter what I sometimes figured.

However, I found that my mind would wander to her constantly. When I knew she wasn't there, I hoped she was. When I knew that she was there, and could beat me; I wished she stay always. It was the most aggravating thing I had ever witnessed.

"Yeah I'm here, and so are you. See you." I said walking off, with Rosélia following behind me. I had to escape from her; to keep my sanity it was annoying how much I enjoyed her presence. I bet she thought I hated her. It was best that way anyway. Because I couldn't care about being beside my competitor, that was ridiculous. It would cost me my sanity if I did for some reason have to.

"Why can't you stay?" She asked as I walked off. I tossed a rose at her.

"Because… It's who I am." It wasn't the most logical answer but she didn't ask any further, I was safe, for now."

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

I opened my eyes, my eyes meeting her long brown tresses that composed her hair and a red sweater and black pants. "We don't have class?" I asked.

"No, you can sleep longer. I'm heading out to train with Azurill, nothing major. I'll be out back if you need me." I nodded, once again closing my eyes. "Donuts and Bacon are prepared for you when you want to get up. I already had the bacon made when Victoria brought the donuts, don't ask." She said with a smile walking out of the room with her pouch on.

After get a bit more sleep and dressing in a pair of jeans and a black jacket and a white t-shirt I sat in the kitchen, watching May train from the window and eating. She was starting with an extremely young pokémon that had a few good attacks but not much, but I figured a water pokémon like that, within our group have a lot of places to go.

Soon after, she came in. "You just finished eating." She stated with a smirk.

"Yes, but don't be surprised that you aren't cooking tonight." I said.

"Why?" She asked.

"Cause I've decided to take you out to dinner, if you don't mind?"

"No, but why?"

"That's how I am." I used my useless expression from before. I got up wrapping my arms around her waist and we met in a kiss until we separated. She rested her head on my chest. "I missed you is why." I said.

"I would be lying if I said anything different." She mumbled almost incoherently in my ear. Her eyes were dreary, with all the tiresome work she obviously had been doing in the morning.

We entered our living room, expecting someone to be in their, but was absent of anyone besides us. "Where are they?" She asked her hand in mine.

"Not sure, you've been up all morning."

"Oh yeah, they have classes." She asked.

"If we don't why would they?"

"Because of this." May said digging into the pocket of her jeans and pulling out a paper.

_May and Drew, _

_In order to thank you for all your help this past week and a half, you are given the next two weeks off, take it as a gift. You'll still be paid as if you were working but you both were tired last week so I decided to give you two weeks off. I'm sure you're thinking something like… what are you going to do without… well… I'll stop you there. These next two weeks are performance overviews. They are each going to be rated on how well they preformed throughout the competition. Then you will be asked, once you return, to accredit this information into their grades. Have a good two weeks off. _

_Mr. Rosily _

"That's nice of him." I said.

"Yeah, it is. I'm glad. I can't believe that it's already November 1st. This is the end of the first quarter of grading so Max is going to be heading back with Victoria to do some regular training." May answer me.

"Lily is going to stay?" I asked.

"She's not sure. It's very dependant because the course is all year, but she may have to leave, if she wants to get her ribbons in time, it's excused if she does. She doesn't have to be there at all, all that matters are so many hours and tests, other than that, it doesn't matter that she comes to the classes." May explained.

"Yeah I knew that but… we could always help her, wherever she is, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's our job to assist our students from wherever they are, from here on out." She said. "It's kind of as though they are our family, right?"

"Yeah, they have been in these last two months. Well I know what we should do. We'll go on a little drive to visit a friend of ours."

"Eh?"

"I'd like to visit our parents. How long has it been now? 2 months. We really should keep up better, now that we get a chance, don't you think?"

"Maybe, just for a short while because we'll be over there in another month in a half. But you're right, after all these years we haven't visited them except for a few days during the change over, I'm sure they miss us."

"Yeah." I responded.

"Something going on I should know about?"

"I don't think that my stepparents know about my engagement." I answered. I had only thought about that now. The dream I had before I finally got up was weird. It was about my family not thinking that I wanted them there. It was peculiar but I don't remember telling my step dad. I don't think he would care either.

"We sent him an invitation." May said with a smile. "If he didn't know about the engagement, he knows about the wedding, don't worry."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about the invitations." She pulled me to sit next to her on the couch.

"What's really on your mind?" She asked.

"It was just a dream but it was weird. My family was rebuking them… again… because I was trying to seal them out of my lives."

"So that's what this is about!" She said, a bit too loudly, thought no one was hear. "Sorry." She said, noticing my reaction. "I figured there was something deeper to your statement. You're afraid people are going to think that you're distancing yourself from them again. Even though I promised I wouldn't let you do that."

"You said it too…" I mumbled as inaudibly as I could, while she could understand.

"What? I'd never let you leave me Drew. You know that."

"I know. That's what made it so peculiar. I guess it's just because we've been apart so long, that it makes me think like that. But you wouldn't mind going to…" She had walked away. "May." I called to her.

"I'm changing, stay right there." She said from our bedroom. She came out wearing a top that was like a wrap with a blue underlay, a matching light blue skirt and bag. She had her phone in hand and her hair was left as is. She was wearing white boots. I just stared at her for a while. "You look fine, now I'm ready." She said with a smile.

"You really should stop surprising me like this May, changing your look is very…"

"Surprising. You're not use to me dressing up since I'm normally just in a black jacket and black jeans or something like it, professional. The same thing was with me when I dressed up. It's entertaining and you like surprises. Now that I've completed your thoughts, care to drive?" She said tossing me the car keys.

We climbed into the car and I still couldn't help staring at her. She sighed. "I guess I shouldn't have dressed up as much, huh?"

"Maybe. We're only visiting our parents."

"Yeah, but especially your stepparents, they don't like me… I think."

"I'm not sure about that either. I barely remember our last encounter, when we went out to dinner." I said.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

"May is healing from a past accident during our contests but we have three and will be returning next week to coordinate, again." I explained. A waiter came, we all ordered and then he left.

"How was she hurt?" My stepmother asked concerned.

"One of our attacks hit the enemy, but the explosion was so widespread it knocked me into a wall. I was temporarily blinded for a few days prior to that and up until that so it was hard for me to know what was going on."

"That must have been hard."

"No, not all really, it was actually a lot easier to coordinate. Competing wasn't as enjoyable but Drew helped me through it all, every second of the way. He has saved me two times in accidents involving my sight, no wait it's three." She said. I smiled and her confusion it was very interesting.

"That's surprising." Dad said.

"How so?" She asked.

"Well, for the longest time Drew was spacious to everyone, even his own family and for him to become this close to someone is really surprising."

"I don't think so; he just wanted to do things his own way. He wanted his own independence; I figure that I would do the same thing if I was in his situation."

"Hm?" My stepmother asked.

"It's really easy to understand, he was bringing around with him, his sister. At early times, he was coordinating against her, so one of his rivals had access to everything he did before, all his moves and such, giving them both a hard way to move on."

◊

"I understand." He said.

"Not only that but he was trying to do something for himself, to become a top coordinator and with her there it made it impossibly to win and he was being held down by his sister. If Max had been a coordinator also when I began traveling, I probably would have gone separate ways too." She said.

This came unexpected; they seemed to be understanding of the whole events. I didn't expect this at all. I would definitely have to thank May for this later. "Mom, may I be excused?" Lily asked.

They didn't say anything. Lily looked to me. I nodded and she walked off to the bathroom. Nothing was said for quite a long time, and worst of all, Lily must have been hurt. "Um May, would you mind talking to Lily?" I asked.

"Of course not," She got up and went to the bathroom. I sat there.

"Don't you think my sister was a bit harsh?" Max asked.

"I don't think harsh, but brutally honest was a true statement. But yet again, they needed to be told this." I looked to my mother and father who stared down at their meals which had just been set down. They looked as if May's words hadn't been told to them countless times. I had tried to explain the same thing to them, many times before. They refused to hear the logic of my statements hearing it from someone else made it seem ow too real.

May returned with Lily by her side. May had comforted her and Lily was going to cry but seemed to not be able to hold it her emotions. "I'm sorry, Drew." She said and then everything went back to normal.

"I'm sorry too son." My dad said. "I wish I would have listened to what you said, and then maybe, we would have got along better.

"Sorry Drew, I didn't mean to be that mean to you yesterday."

"You're all forgiven; I've always forgiven your trespasses on me. However, what you said to me yesterday was quite honest; Lily told me the same thing. But then again, that stage was over 7 years ago." They nodded.

"Eh?" May asked.

"You know Lily and Victoria's theory about me never being able to love, it's actually a wide spread theory in their side of the family." May nodded, understanding what I meant.

"I thought so too for a while, that's why I figured that it would never happen between us, that and the fact that it took a huge push to get there." I said.

"Yeah, Ash says Misty does that a lot." Max added.

"I'm super glad that you two have each other." Lily said so happily.

"I am too." I said gently. May smiled and nodded as well.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

"Hey May, Drew, what's going on? Where are you headed?" Lily yelled, jumping out from Victoria's car, followed by Victoria herself, and Max.

"We're headed to see your mother and my stepfather." I answered.

"We're headed out that way to meet with Ash. This was our last day." Max said. "Do you mind dropping us off?"

"Of course not." I answered him.

"Thanks a ton. Victoria?" She climbed in the car.

"You are coming too?" May asked.

"I'm not related to them but I wouldn't mind talking and meeting them. I'll decide what to do later, if anything, I may stay with mom." She answered, distantly, as thought she wasn't talking with us, but to the car. May frowned with the distant behavior she was showing.

"Then we'll take your car. I'll drive ours." May said. I was confused. What?

"Why would you do that?" Victoria asked.

"Well because we'll put the pokémon in our car since we'll be gone for a while, and they'll need to come along and everyone else will be in your car. It's simple." May said.

"But…" I started.

"I'll be fine driving the way. I have a phone if I need someone to trade with me. Go ahead." She said with a smile that said she expected something more from the plan. She was planning something. What was her supposed outcome?

"Then we'll go get the pokémon." I said. She nodded, following me, understanding that I wanted to talk to her. Once we were inside, I began. "That excuse made no sense."

"You and she are both the same. You took the bait didn't you? It'll work. Just try to solve the conflict you two have. You're family and mistakes in the past or none, you have to get along. I want you guys too. I know you do too, all you needed was a push."

"I don't like this plan. Take Lily with you. Max too. We'll take her and my pokémon with us. That way it's easier for Victoria and me to talk. If I make sure she doesn't get a say in this, and doesn't question it too much, then we should be fine." I said.

"Alright." We got all of our pokémon out of their balls and came outside. " Victoria, I'm going to have Lily and Max come with me since they're luggage will fit in the car while you should bring most of the stuff that you will need if you stay with your mom. Drew will help you get it all in the car. Your pokémon will fit fine with the stuff you need. He'll help you pack it up, while we set off. Alright?" I asked.

"Alright." She said, feeling the uncomfortable result that was soon to follow.

Everyone, including the pokémon, got in the car. My luggage was left in my car since she had room still, even with all the pokémon in the car. I could hardly believe all our pokémon would fit in the car, but they did, just barely. I climbed in the car with Victoria. I suspected this would be very uncomfortable but I hoped May was right and this would be the cause of the resolution to our problems.

It was silent for a while. The trip would take at least until night, I figured. It did take us quite a long time to walk, actually, I figured we could make it, but I'd rather take a stop. We were leaving at 5 and it would take at least 12 hours of driving. Only 4 were smart to drive tonight. I figured May packed sometime else to wear, knowing that we wouldn't make it by tonight.

" Victoria. Do you think I messed up?"

"Where?" She asked.

"Anywhere. Just be as you use to be, judging me for who I am, my mistakes, and my successes. I just want to know how we are, as family."

"I'm trying to forgive you. I see that your fiancée, May was trying to do this all along. To get this to come out. That's why she did it, huh?"

"Yeah, but don't change the subject. Just tell me." I almost begged her. I didn't beg. I pleaded, with my pride still intact.

"Like I said, it's hard to forgive you. I know that it isn't your fault that our family was separated or that you just wanted to follow your own dreams but… I just want to be a part of your life Drew." She said, her eyes, not moving from staring at the road. She remained focus.

"You are a part of my life Victoria."

"It isn't the same."

"Of course it isn't, because I'm engaged, and I have my fiancée live with along with a job that requires my attention constantly by I never said to stay out of my life. I never said anything like that. I never had, I just needed space to live my life."

Ж (Flashback) Ж

"Oh nothing, nothing at all, except the fact that Drew's been a heartless jerk to his little sister for 6 years now since he became a coordinator. We came all this way to make sure that Drew could still love because last time we saw him the only thing he loved were pokémon. And all Lily wanted is to be accepted by Drew but Drew couldn't even manage to get that right." Victoria said angrily but crying.

"Sorry," I said walking over to her. "I really am, for leaving her but well now, I've got a life, a girlfriend, pokémon, a career involving both of them, a life now, and so tell Lily I'm sorry for me and tell her that I never meant to hurt her so much." I said walking away from both of them.

She grabbed my arm when she was crying on the ground. "You think that you can leave us again Drew? I'm not going to let anything mess up our relationship with you again Drew, hear me." She said crying.

"I told you already. I'm sorry, I really am but I've got a girlfriend who I love and she needs me so when her parents leave tonight, I got to be there for her. Don't you understand?" I asked.

"You abandon us again Drew?"

"What do you want from me?" I asked sighing. "You want me to love, and do and have for 6 years. Moreover… I finally get with the girl, May who I really love and I'm happy and I realize my mistakes for abandoning you and you want me to leave May who is the sole reason for me realizing my mistakes and realizing that it's okay to love people again, you do don't you?"

"No… but…" I placed my hand on hers.

"I promise by tonight, I'll apologize and say good-bye to her. She's not 10 anymore, neither am I Victoria. I'm not just a boy anymore; I'm responsible for myself, my actions. I finally have a life, and a girlfriend thanks to you and Lily's work but you are not, and will not take May away from me. We came too far and I need her too much as she needs me to let you separate us. You knew the consequences of helping me realize I loved May, and this is it. K?" I said walking off.

"Drew wait, you promise that you'll say good-bye and apologize, to both of us." I turned around and smiled.

"Yeah I'll say good-bye and apologize to both of you. So will May if possible. Thanks for making it all possible though, I owe you a lot. You did more then I could ever repay you for, you didn't have to."

"But I wanted to." She answered.

"Then don't hold me accountable for the consequences of your over bearing needs." She nodded. Tears filled her eyes.

"I'm sorry that I was selfish. You're right; I should have known the consequences for helping you realize your love for May. Whatever you do you do it in whole, right?" I smiled and nodded. "Then I suppose then you and May are perfect huh?"

"For better or worst we've been there for each other, and we probably won't stop, so bye." I said walking off.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

"No where in that conversation years ago did I tell you to go away. I didn't. I just said that you can't tell me to stay with you when I have a girlfriend, now fiancée, I love May and we have to stay together. I will be with you, as family, forever and always."

"Adding people to my family won't take my family away from my family. May loves her family, and as hard as my family has made my life, you're still my family. I love you all but it's my job to be by May's side from now on, as her fiancé. We have no plans whatsoever to ignore our family from now on. May loves her family, and I do too."

"But you…"

"Haven't always?" I finished. "I know I haven't. You guys have done well to make me realize that. So has May. She knows where I fall, and where I stand. However, I just want to get over the problems of the past. I don't want to ignore the past because it's a basis for the future. I mean if I ignored the fact that May and I ever met and had a relationship that meant our marriage couldn't exist. I'm not asking you to pretend it never happened. I'm just asking you to get over it, move on. Give me a change. One that hopefully hasn't rubbed of your judgment against me already."

"I guess I could do that. You mean start over, and forgive you? Right?"

"Yeah, forgive me for not being as perfect as is unobtainable and give me a chance to be better than my mistakes. As May says, it's a new day fresh for us to make a mistake, hopefully one not as bad as yesterday's, we learn and improve after all. We adapt." I said, with a smile, for one of the first time, directed toward my true blood sister.

"Alright, tomorrow I'll wake up and I will only judge you on what you have done that day. It'll be hard, but I think I'll manage."

"I know you could." I said with another smile. Being around May has definitely had an affect on me. I'll have to thank her later. I wonder if I've changed her at all.

"Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future." She quoted from Swami Sivananda.

"If you knew that quote, why didn't you ever think to listen to it?" I asked.

"Because I've heard that only after you've learned a lesson will the words that someone told you to warn you and help you become clear."

"Look before your leap." I asked.

"Okay, I'm talking about more philosophical ones." She said.

"Did you miss me? I know mom did."

"Of course I did Drew. You're my little brother. Do you know how lonely May would be without Max?"

"I know because she's been without him for a while, but she had me to do the things he did so she didn't hurt as much but you didn't, so _how did _you fare." I asked.

"I would have to say the beginning was the most miserable years of my life. When you once came and visited for a short time, I figured you'd stay even though you couldn't but you barely came to say a word to us. You avoided us all together."

"Yeah, but I'm forgiven."

"You asked how I felt and I'm just telling you. Let me begin to describe my pain. I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I'm trying to get you to understand your mistake in-depth so you understand _why _it was such a mistake." She said.

Ж (Flashback) Ж – Φ (Victoria Kito) Φ

I saw my stepfather climb into a car; he pulled Drew after him. He was crying. I didn't understand what was going on. What was happening? I was 14 and I was sitting on the steps to our house. I heard my mother's tears. Suddenly, it all made sense. It was the only thing that could possibly make sense of the situation. "You're getting a divorce, aren't you?"

"Yes." My mom said quietly from behind me. "He loves another man. Though he's allowed to remarry."

"Really?"

"Yes." She said again. "I want him happy."

"He took Drew." I said.

"Yes he did. Drew is 9 and is his son."

"They aren't related, he can't claim something that is yours, by blood. It's unfair." No eye contact was made. She stood behind me, her tears were now silent, and mine were invisible and silent.

"No one cares. Except me. I didn't want any problems. Drew needs a father more than he needs a mother. He's younger and it would best… if he had both. I want you with me, because you are my daughter and you've grown with me and how I've raised, so many years without a father, do you think you can stand it again?" My mother asked me.

"Yes, if anything was to hurt me. It would be not seeing Drew again. They'll visit. I'll see him again, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not. Drew isn't allowed to come here. Not until he's older."

"How much older?"

"18, when he's considered an adult." My mom said with timid voice and frantic tears on the inside.

"Then… that was a good-bye with no words, and no tears. I won't see my brother for 9 years, twice the age he is now and you expected me to be okay with that. To accept it? To stay here with you? That's what you wanted and hoped I'd accept."

"You're 14, I hoped that…"

"I won't leave you. Don't worry. You're my mother. I love you. I with that you would have fought back and kept Drew though, he's too young to have gone through all of this. He could barely accept the loss of his father, now he is forced to leave you, as though you were dead. I think it's hardly fair. I think if anything, I could handle 4 years with two strangers, unlike Drew who has 9. 9 years is a very long time to have no one to be with, no one to relate to."

"His wife and he have a daughter, she's 7. She will be a little sibling, as Drew was to you. It will be a change for Drew but I can only hope for his happiness and hope that all things go well. Moreover, honestly speaking, 9 years isn't a very long time. It will pass. Who knows, if you both go beyond the limits of the rules, and stretch to the outside world. Maybe you'll meet again. On the other side of the rules that this city dictates."

"We could meet again?"

"Yes. In the next year, you too can leave like your father and I did, to seek to be a Coordinator or Trainer and maybe, just maybe you'll cross paths."

"One can always hope." I said, standing up, passing my mom and going inside. Crying myself to sleep.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж


	24. ◊ In the Beginning ◊

◊ (At the Beginning) ◊

∆ ( Media Town) ∆ - ¤ (That Night) ¤ - Φ (May) Φ

I climbed out of Drew's car. I smiled. This is where it all began. I leaned against the front of the car. Media Town, the first town in my journey to become the best coordinator and receive a ribbon cup. I'm still not sure if Drew or I are better, or the best but together, we're definitely number one. I smiled.

Since that day so much has happened. Drew and I became partners for the contests, opting to stay with each other and move through the competition. We started dating. We won the cup. We became teachers. He asked me to marry him. We live with our siblings in a home all our own. We are happy together, and live each life dealing with the others problems, or them dealing with our own. We have new pokémon, and we've definitely change a lot since we first came here.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

"Nurse Joy of Media Town I presume?" I asked.

"Yes, so would you like a room, we only have one other person here for our contest tomorrow." I nodded. When were all these coordinators coming? "Single, double?" She asked.

"Single," I answered. Usually I had shared a quadruple room with Ash, Brock, and Max. I really was missing them. "When's dinner served?" I asked.

"It's served at promptly 6 o'clock." She responded. "I won't be here but the meal will be set up and you will dine with the boy at 6, okay?" She asked.

"Yeah okay, do you know his name?" I hoped he was someone I had previously met before, I hoped. That would save me a lot of annoyance.

"Sorry, he just came in today too, only a few hours ago. He's sleeping but make sure you wake him up half pasted 5, okay?" She asked.

"Okay, I'll be sure to." It was 4 now. That gave me an hour and a half before I had to wake this boy up and prepare for dinner.

The time past quickly and before I knew it I had fallen asleep. Then I heard footsteps from outside the door. I probably missed dinner, and the boy was here to yell at me for not waking him up as well. I opened the door and walked to the table hoping for something to be left over but there was nothing. I looked at the clock 5:45. I hadn't missed lunch but the boy should have been awoken a while ago but he'd forgive me hopefully.

There was a note on the table, 'Dear Ms. The other boy is in rm. 4, across the hall from you. He has green eyes. That's all I can remember. Also, your pokémon all check out and your pass and file are placed in this envelope. –Nurse Joy,' I sat down waiting for the food to arrive. I supposed a pokémon of some sort would be here. I walked around and realized the boy wasn't awake so I went to the room and gently knocked on it I heard a yawn and a reply to leave and I walked off after that.

I sat at the table; the clock was blinking 5:54. I sighed and set my head on the table, prepared to take a long nap but then I heard a voice. "May, I'm surprised to see you here." A voice said. I knew that voice. I quickly sat up and met eyes with the green eyed, green haired boy, my rival, Drew.

"Hey Drew, I'm surprised to see you here too. I thought I'd never run into someone I knew."

"I'd be the only one, no one from Hoenn went here, and they were all and didn't like the challenge of it, weaklings. So what brings you to this particular contest and city?" He asked.

"It was the first city I came across." I replied dryly.

"Ah, so you haven't been here long?" He asked.

"This is the first city I've seen." I answered.

"Ah, then you should come along with me, I've traveled all over the area all summer so I know the region. I mean, if you want to you could. This is the first contest, that's why I'm here."

"Then I guess I made it just in time to enter."

"Not really, they say that most who try to enter without seeing a Lazio Region match before hand all lose, they don't meet the speculations." He responded.

"What kind of speculations?" I asked.

"I heard they have extremely weird rules to all their contests, that's why most newbie trainers and coordinators stay away from here, only top notch coordinators like myself are worthy to compete." I laughed.

"You're not that much better then me Drew, I'll show what I can do tomorrow." I answered.

"I can't wait but I'm not competing. I'm being smart and watching the first one." He responded.

"That's smart but I'm going to give my best try my first time, and show you my skills."

"You do that, then I'll watch you fall." He answered.

"You'll never get off my back, will you?"

"Not in a million years, May." He responded.

"Dinner," I said finally as Chansey pulled up to the table with our meals.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

"May, you thinking about all those months ago when you first arrived here?" Drew asked, leaning against the car next to me. I nodded. "What a coincidence that you'd be unprepared to participate in a event such as this."

"It's typical me. But it worked out in the end." He flipped his hair, he doesn't do that much of anymore but I think it's something he does instead of snorting, as I call it. He does it when he agrees or disagrees, a weird gesture.

"Everything seems to work out find for you May. Not always for me." He said.

"Come on, let's go in you two." Lily said happily, beside Max.

"Alright."

"We definitely didn't always get along." I said. "I would have like that to go my way, and the contests I lost."

He flipped his hair again, it must be this place reverting him back to his old self. "Details May, of course everything doesn't go your way, just most things."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure what's a good example, but you just usually have your way."

"So do you." I argued back.

"Yeah, but it's best that way." I nodded. "So let's get settled in for the night."

"I remember my first night here."

"Do you? Was it interesting?" He asked me.

"Yeah, I remember looking out the window and the beautiful scenery. I don't remember much more than the events between us but I do remember other stuff."

"Like what?" He asked.

"Actually I remember very well the dream I had the next night."

"What was it about?"

"It was unusual because it was my first dream about you." I said.

"What about me?" He asked.

"Nothing." I said with a smile.

"Tell me May." He said with a false serious tone.

"Alright, but I'm warning you this was extremely weird for me at the time." I sighed, giggling. My second night here. This was my 5 or 6th night now, but that was a good night.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

I slipped into my pajamas which were just a t-shirt and shorts for me. You never knew when some one would come in, something would attack or something and you had to be descent, just in case. I couldn't wear light nightgowns like most did.

I sat beside the window, staring out. I felt like someone was on the outside looking back at me when I looked out the window. I always felt like there was someone trying to reach to me, tell me something. It was a rather weird feeling that I had, well compared to others.

I went back to bed, seeing the color of the night sky reflect into my white room with all it's wooden furniture. It was a wonderful sight. I liked this part of the country, it was rather quiet and peaceful. I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

- (Dream) –

I was standing by a window, and I looked out I saw another face. It was the face of someone; it was very blurry. I must have been quite tired. I tried wiping my eyes, with no effect. The face started clearing on it's own, as though someone was coming to the window.

"Hello?" I asked.

'It's me May, what's up with you?" Drew asked. It was Drew.

I opened the window. I fell out of it, pushing myself through the window, falling harshly toward the ground. I was caught by Drew. He set me down. "Sorry." I mumbled, blushing as he set me down. I sat beside the building, admiring the view here was just the same.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked.

"No. Just keep quiet." I said, closing my eyes and imagining a wonderful landscape.

"You alright, I've never seen you like this before. Gathering your nerves again?'

"No. I just really like the outdoors." I said, with a smile.

"You'd have to be… to be a coordinator." He said. "With all the traveling and whatnot."

"Yeah, but I really like it, it's beautiful, isn't it?" I said.

"It is." He answered, we sat there for a while, imagining the horizon of the sun rising. It was just as beautiful as the dusk and sunset. I loved it out here. No huge industrial cities to destroy the peacefulness of the forest. Even the pokémon center is friendly to the environment.

"I'm tired." I said. He got up, helping me up.

"You should sleep. The contest is tomorrow. I can't imagine how exciting this match would be if you weren't in it."

"What about you?"

"I told you. It's not my thing to just right into something. I wait for the right moment. That's how I am." He said walking off. Then a beautiful rose appeared in my hands. I smiled, smelling it, returning to my room.

- (Dream Over) –

"That is a very interesting dream. How many times since then have you dreamt of me?" He asked.

"I lost count a long time ago. The closer I got to you, the more often it happened. Now it's nightly." I said.

He laughed. "The same with me."

"The second night and everything?' I asked.

"Yeah, but mine was a different dream, of course. It was just as weird having you in my dreams as you'd expect it to be, it was however a peculiar dream, just the same." He said.

"We should go inside and settle in." We all sat down, eating food that Nurse Joy had set out.

"May Adena and Drew Kito, such a pleasure to see you two again."

"You too." I said cheerfully.

"Anything new going on since you started teaching?"

"You heard about that."

"Of course, I read coordinator and pokémon weekly. It's in all the newspapers too." She said. "Come, see all of them." We entered the lobby and on many of the desks, beside month's old newspapers were more recent ones of the contest and trip we've had recently. "Everyone knows about everything. I didn't know if it was true though. It seemed unlikely after how you guys didn't exactly get along."

"Are you talking about the wedding?" I asked.

"Yes. I was happy for you but I was surprised after meeting you two that it would happen so early."

"Who knows what will happen next, but we're ready for it." He said taking my hand in his.

'I know you are. I wish you success and gave a great night." We nodded and finished eating. Drew headed back to our room. I entered the lobby, being interested in the kinds of stories that were being published about us. I didn't know they could do that without consulting us.

"May, are you going to sleep soon?" Victoria asked, walking in.

"No, I don't think so. Not for a while longer. I want to read these." I said, my hand moving to the stack of newspapers and magazines that had mention of Drew or I in them.

"That's quite a lot to read tonight. Maybe you should ask to take some of them with you. I'm sure she would let you, since they're about you. Or even photocopy all the parts that are about you, so you can frame them or something." Victoria suggested.

"Yeah, that's a smarter move then staying up all night and reading them. I'll just read a few and go to bed. I'm just so interested in how much we've changed since we arrived, it's impressive."

"I think you've changed Drew more than you've changed yourself May. You're pretty much the same, except for a few small details that have changed since you arrived, as in your feelings for him, but besides that, you're the same. He's not."

"I care about his change much, the same as I care about my own. I know he's changed. I could tell that easily. I was kind of hope I had change as well."

"You've changed but not the same dramatic way that he has." Victoria said.

"I guess that's good that we both didn't change so much. Or the relationship would have no meaning." I said. "Had we both drastically changed, then the relationship started, then it wouldn't mean anything. It meant we both changed who we are for the relationship."

"If one person changes for the relationship, the relationship just as bad if both people had changed for the other. A common mistake." Victoria said.

"That happened to you?" I asked.

She laughed. "No, I'm quite sorry to confuse but I was just making a thought. If Drew had changed so you'd love him, the relationship would mean nothing because that wouldn't be him. The same value that would exist had you both changed drastically."

"I know, but I was wondering are we still the same people we were?" I asked simply. "I want our relationship to have meaning, and to be true. I just want to make sure."

"I'm sure it does." Victoria said.

"Really?" I asked. "I'm trying to look at it from the outside, using these newspapers, with no success I might add. I just wish you would tell me."

"I will but Lily's been with you more. I'd suggest you ask her but she's probably…"

"I'm awake. I heard that you guys hadn't gone to sleep. I was curious. You need me?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah actually. I need you to tell me if Drew and my relationship, has meaning."

"What do you mean?" She asked. It was a confusing question.

"She wants to know has she and Drew changed so much so that there was no hope before the change, of them getting together. Have the changed so much that they are so different that it wouldn't have worked out before?" Victoria clarified for me.

"Why?' She asked.

"I want to know if there was hope before Drew and I changed to get together, was there hope?" I asked simply. "I want to know if it's real. Could we have gotten together without changing."

"No." She said simply. I sighed. I was afraid of that. She was smiling though. "Before you and he changed you were both oblivious of the other's feelings, and that's all that's changed. Change is good, as long as you don't compromise your thoughts and feelings for the other person."

"So because we didn't care to be together, or because we were too stupid to recognize the other's feelings, we had no hope of being together?" I questioned.

"Exactly, but you had home. It was just so dim, but it turns out that dim change was changed just by coming here, and meeting. Anything could have happened, but I'm glad it happened like this." I said, with a smile.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Lily said.

"I agree, it was best that your relationship was a success like this, even though it took a lot of work to get you to together. That Misty girl and us two it could have taken years to get you two together. It would have been a nightmare."

"True, but then again who knows. But let's not waste time on what if's. I'm thankful and I'm sure Drew is the same. I'm glad he didn't have to yelled at to ask me to marry him. That would have been upsetting for me that he couldn't make his mind up on his own."

"Yeah, we were just as surprised."

"I was not. I was so excited and I knew it would happen soon. Especially since he kept talking to me about it constantly. I don't think he told you that but whatever." Lily said.

"He needed help with how to do it." I smiled.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

"True, it's not a real challenge. Not at all."

"But it's experience none the less. It's really some of the best times in coordinating to this day. Our teamwork amazes me, how much I know and can easily rely on you still surprises me. Everything seems to do that too."

"Yeah I know. Can you believe that it's only been like 3 months or so?" I asked.

"No, I agree, it's goon by so fast." He answered.

"I really enjoyed it. Being with you Drew." I said smiling and hugging him.

"Me too. But you're making it sound as though I'm leaving you; or you're leave me. I'm not going to let that happen." He said.

"How can you assure that?" I asked with a smile. He got down on one knee.

"Would you marry me? That way, I don't have to worry, because I know." I nodded and hugged him. He slipped the ring on my finger. I looked at it.

"I accept." He rolled his eyes and held me tight. This was going to be a great day! Such a great day!

"You're wonderful, you know that?" He asked. I nodded and smiled. It was all, too noticeable.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

"He asked me in his own weird but very scuttle. I liked it." I said.

"Yeah, I expected something much more romantic, but then again, it was Drew and that's how he works." Lily said.

'Yeah I agree. He could have done it better, but that way worked just the same."

"I think it was perfect." I said. "How he did it so subtly that I didn't expect it, and so well that it made me happy and how he brought it up as if it was so important and yet part of everything."

"I guess everyone has their opinions. Apparently Drew knew what you'd like, and gave it to you. It's just like him to do that really." Victoria said.

"I think if May likes it then that's all that matters, besides if Drew liked the way that he asked her. I'd sure he didn't just to it empty mindedly, so I'm sure he figured it was the time and all." Lily said.

(A/N: sorry to tell you guys but it's important to worn you that this story has hit climax and now has a few chapters to go before it is completed. Sorry if you wanted more but I can't go on much longer. You'll have a few more chapters, the marriage, then 2 or 3 chapter epilogue of time advances. Just be prepared.)

Drew walked into the room behind us. I turned around. "You guys should go to sleep."

"Sit, read and talk with us Drew." I said. He shrugged, sitting behind me, taking one of the many magazines that were on the pile in front of me, and began reading.

_The Journey of Coordinators May Adena and Drew Kito :: From Hometown Trainers to World Renown Coordinators _

_May Adena is daughter of gym leader, Norman Adena of the Hoenn Region. She grew up in Petalburg City. She set out with trainer, Ash Ketchum; breeder, Brock and her brother, Max. She had gone through the Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn regions before entering the Lazio region. She then met up with her partner, Drew Kito. She scored top 8 in Hoenn and top 4 in Kanto and top 2 in Johto. All of which contained battles against her partner, Drew. Her first pokémon was a torchic, advancing to a Blaziken. Her other pokémon are Munchlax, Squirtle, Eevee, Beautifly, Bulbasaur and Skitty. She has befriended many other pokémon along her journey. _

_Drew Kito is son to famous coordinators Daniela (Martina) and Mathew Kito and stepson to Kane and Marne Crizten. He has a fullblood sister, Victoria Kito known also for her excellence in small town competitions though she doesn't compete far from home. She has a stepsister, the daughter of his stepparents, Kane and Marne whose name is Lily Crizten. He has competed in the same contests May has scoring better or worst than her in each of them. He lived with his mother and stepfather since loosing his father at the age of 7. His stepfather divorced his mother at the age of 9, and he was taken custody of by his father. He grew up in many places because of his stepfather's business. He left at 10 to become a coordinator, his sister Lily coming along. He later abandoned her along the way to seek to be by himself. His purpose for leaving is unknown. After participating in Hoenn, Johto and Kanto regions he went to the Lazio region, meeting and teaming up with May Adena. _

_May and Drew, needing partners found each other knowing the other's moves, strengths and weaknesses made them the most likely candidates for having great success in the region unknown to all others in the region. They're main competition was their old competitors Harley and Solidad who had also teamed up. They moved through the competition swiftly, taking 10 ribbons while also taking a break during May's recuperation time while she was healing from many unfortunate accidents that followed. They from there went to the Grand Festival, winning and taking home their first ribbon cup. They were then offered a job at the Coordinating Academy in the area. They accepted and are now teaching there, full time. _

"They're mostly repetitive, apparently come sometimes soon we should have an interview." I told him.

"Really?" He asked. "I don't like interviews."

"I know you don't but its best that we let people know who we are. No response to that in necessary." I countered knowing he'd make some unnecessary comment.

"Fine, but all they're going to do is ask us questions about our life, dreams and goals and stuff. It's annoying and I sincerely dislike it." He said.

"Yeah, but we don't have to, we just should. If you don't want to answer a question, tell them that. They should respect that."

"Yeah, right." He said. "Let's go to sleep we can finish reading these in the morning."

"I think I'm only going to take a few of them, they're fairly repetitive since until recently it wasn't something to big to be tracking our every move and all."

"That would get on my nerves." He said.

"So we get them off our backs as soon as possible by giving them all interviews, let's say next week and then we finish preparations for the wedding." He nodded.

"That sounds fine."

"Good, so that's our plans. We should alert Misty and Ash about this as well." I said.

'Yeah, you're right." He said.

"Let's go to bed." I said. He nodded as we went to our room and slept.

- (Dream) –

I opened my eyes. "Morning," A voice said. It was a girl with long straight green hair, a mini version of Victoria I would say, except she looked sort of like me.

"Morning Amy," I said. Picking her up and placing her on the bed beside me. "How are you?"

"Hungry." She said. I got dressed and picked her up, she looked to be about four.

"Let's feed you." I said. I walked into the kitchen, my same kitchen where I made breakfast. I handed Amy to Drew and began making breakfast. "What would you guys like?" I asked.

"Anything's fine." He said.

"Alright, waffles and eggs it is." I said thinking of the first thing that came to mind.

Drew typed on his laptop while Amy watched and I made breakfast. Someone knocked on the door. "I'll get it." Amy said walking to the door and opening it. I close behind her.

Misty and Ash walked in. "How are you three today?"

"Just fine, Drew's working. I'm cooking and she's being her same old self." I answered. Drew came in.

"How are you guys?" He asked.

"Jake is out back trying to catch something, he thinks he can with or without a pokéball."

"He'll fall into a river."

"Nah, Pikachu and Bulbasaur will take care of him." Misty said.

"Bayleaf would normally do it but she's still overprotective of me, even with the kid." Ash said. "You think she'll get over it any time soon?"

"She hasn't gotten over how much time you spend with me Misty." I said.

"True, it's sooo annoying." Misty added.

"I think she wants attention by doing that."

"What more could we give her, she watches the kid and everything. There's nothing she doesn't do for us. She's always there with us." Ash said.

"Well whatever, let's go teach. I'll get Jake." Misty said.

"Yeah, right." I said. Amy was holding onto my leg.

We got ready and left.

- (Dream Over) –

I awoke and Drew was sleeping quietly. I snuck out, after changing clothes and went into the lobby to look at another article. I had wanted to read it. It was one on our engagement during the Grand Festival.

_Coordinator Love :: May and Drew's Story _

_With everything going on around them, coordinators May Adena and Drew Kito had nothing more to worry about besides each other. They had prepared as much as they could, stretching as far as pulling their friends, Solidad and Harley's act together. They helped their friends create a routine that would allow them to make it farther in the contest so they could have a real match come competition time. However many more things were going on between the duo besides the contest. _

_Among all the events, Drew Kito purposed to May after their first set of matches and qualifiers. She accepted and went on relaxing and thinking about that rather than the contest. Most would figure this a mistake by both of them taking their minds off the contest but nothing changed. _

_Come contest time May and Drew were as good and as focused as every. They took their positions and formulated battle strategies that truly made the whole stadium go to silence while still making a mass blow to their opponents, or friends. May and Drew hadn't barely prepared for their first contest and still won. Having practiced many hours, they put on a wonderful show. _

_They ended up winning after an exciting and beautiful match. This match also led them to their current careers of teachers at the Coordinating Academy. They are the youngest people ever to teach there, and the only true coordinators at the academy. They are unrivaled at their skills and teach many different exciting classes that are offered to students younger and older then they are. _

_May and Drew are having their wedding at the school come the end of the school year in a couple of months. It will be wonderful and invitations were sent out all over the country and many regions for people to attend the event. It is one of the biggest events in the history of Coordinating, not to mention, only the second coordinator – coordinator wedding. The first being Drew Kito's own parents Daniela and Mathew. This will be huge with all those they have been and befriended along the way. It is a huge event that they are having and wonderful news to be celebrating. _

_May and Drew, while hard to believe, had a hard rivalry going for many years before they arrived in Lazio and teamed up dominating the competition. Most think it was a waste of their time, all years before. It was surprising that these two people so different and so competitive in such a short time could become partners and dominate the competion without a single moment to practice before hand. It was as though every year before served to bring them closer to these days. _

"What are you reading?" Drew asked from behind me.

"An article about our engagement and soon to be marriage. It's one of the only unique ones here." I said.

"Hm. Let me read it." He sat there, quietly.

Then he looked at me. "I liked the article, didn't you?"

"I think it was very good, truthful and all. It was written pretty recently wasn't it?"

"Yeah, a few weeks ago." I said.

"Are you excited?" He asked me. "About the marriage and everything?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? I'm getting married, to you." I said hugging him tightly.

"Good to know, but be careful not to smash me first."

"I'm not that strong Drew."

He shrugged. "Never underestimate yourself."

"I should know that. That was rule number one that I learned, nothing's impossible, always believe, and don't underestimate yourself. I should know this stuff." I said.

"Yeah but we haven't been needing to teach our students that, they know that. But just in case we'll remember to teach them that. It'll be a very boring, but important lesson." He said.

"Confidence, a coordinator's best weapon." I said smiling.

"A perfect title."

"Yep, the importance of you in contests. If you don't believe in yourself you have no hope of winning because you can't do your best if you think you're going to loose and they're no use trying."

"You might as well give up before you get there if you have no hope or confidence in yourself." He said.

"That's why I needed Ash, Brock and Max to help me with my confidence."

"Which is why you were so down without them and I had to keep your confidence up, you were worried and thought you couldn't go on from there." He reminded me.

"I'm sure glad you did or we would have never made it here."

"I can just imagine what would have happened." He said.

"The Fall of Coordinators." I said. "A great title."

_The Fall of Coordinators _

_May Adena and Drew Kito gave up their dreams of being coordinators when May realized that she had no chance to win because she had never worked before with Drew and her pokémon couldn't trust his. It was a disaster on stage when the pokémon attacked each other and knocked out their masters, causing the field to be destroyed and them to be disqualified. Their Fall. _

_May is back home tending to pokémon, being a Nurse in training at her hometown, Petalburg, pokémon center. She is doing well but misses the day when she traveled with her friends and won contests, went to Grand Festivals. She talks to her pokémon about a dream she once had of getting a ribbon cup, falling love and living happily. She says that now a days that these are just dreams. _

_Drew lives with his stepparents and sister, Lily. Lily has tried to get him to move with his dreams or do something but he has opted to just taking care of his pokémon who do nothing but eat and sleep anymore and take care of his family. He has become even more of a loner, not speaking to anyone or doing anything. His life is a disaster like no other as if it wasn't bad enough before. _

_As constituted in all pokémon training classes, in order to do anything you must first have confidence in yourself, then your pokémon will follow. To be able to compete in the Lazio region you must be able to trust and confide in your partner and their pokémon as you trust yourself and your pokémon. You must dream of winning and seek only that. Try your hardest and live your dreams. _

(A/N: Sorry this was late. I messed up the order of what chapters I'm supposed to do what days and I'm still getting back to doing chapters daily and living a normal life before I head back to marching band season. Thanks for your coorperation.)


	25. ◊ The Wedding ◊

Chapter 22: The Wedding

∆ (The School) ∆ - ¤ (June 5th) ¤ - Φ (Drew) Φ

Today was finally the day, after so long. Today was the day May and I would be happily married. She had prepared everything from her dress to the school for today. She'd always take care of everything. I liked her doing that. It made her happy to have the control. Most of the time we worked together but for now, she was in charge. She knew more about this stuff regardless.

I kissed May's lips as she woke up. "Morning." I said. She had also exhausted herself with all the work. She was wearing a pair of white pants and a red top. She had fallen asleep in her chair checking to make sure everything was perfect for the wedding. I had to carry her to bed, not that I minded.

"Morning Drew… did." I kissed her again.

"Everything's fine. Everyone has said yes, everyone is just waiting for us to be ready. Mainly you. … maybe you should sleep some more." I suggested to her.

"But…"

"Why don't you? Everything's ready. I have to go meet up with my stepfather and your dad for the wedding. You sleep and I'll call you to wake up soon. Please rest. You look exhausted."

"Really?" She asked, worried that she'd look bad.

"Sort of." I didn't want to upset her more. "Just sleep. I'll wake you up. I promise."

"Alright Drew. Thank you." She said kissing me again as she curled up in her blankets.

I got into the car as Max followed me. He had shown up a few days ago knowing how stressed his sister would get if he wasn't early, rather than on time. "She okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, just exhausted. Nothing to worry about." I told him.

"Nothing to worry about. May, on her wedding day is exhausted!" Max yelled.

"I get it. I told her to sleep a while. She'll be fine. And anyone, once she sees everyone, is in her dress and everything, adrenaline will kick in and she'll be completely fine. Just like a contest."

"But this is a marriage, not a contest."

"It should be fine. She will be fine. We can't do anything more than hoping that she will be." I said.

"So are you sure that she will be? Marriages are very stressful. Who knows what could happen?"

"Whether this marriage happens today, tomorrow or the next day I know that we love each other. If she needs time. I give it to her. If she wants to be separate for a while to make sure. I let her."

"You'd really do anything for my sis wouldn't you?" Max asked.

"Yeah, on any normal day, in any normal situation she'd do the same for me but she's crazed about the marriage. Who knows maybe that's what she's dreaming of?"

"Maybe Drew. Let's go." I nodded as we got into the car and drove off to meet our father's for the preparations for the wedding as May slept in her bed peacefully. I hoped she was sleeping and not freaking out. She looked tired and even with another hour or two's sleep she'd need a bit of makeup. Which she usually doesn't like to put on except for a few special occasions. This would probably be one.

We walked in and my stepfather welcomed me by handing me my suit. I went into one of the changing rooms, putting it on and brushing through my hair. I took a deep breath knowing what would come next. Soon I'd be standing at the end of the aisle waiting for her to walk down it.

"Drew, sweetheart, are you alright?" I turned around to see my mother. I was just sitting in a chair staring at the door and I hadn't seen her enter.

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"Don't worry. It's all okay. To be nervous."

"I'm not nervous." I answered. I know what was going on. Nervous means anxious, worried, jumpy, panicky, tense, uneasy. I was the opposite I was calm and reserved.

"On the inside, yes." She answered. Maybe she knew me. She was my mother after all.

"I'm not nervous. I'm just… concerned… for May."

"Yes, she seems very exhausted. How long are you going to let her sleep?" I sighed, looking at the clock. It was one hour until. I would wake her up.

"I'll call her now." She nodded and left the room. I called her cell. It kept ringing until she answered.

"How long do I have?" She asked in panic.

"Take a deep breath May. 1 Hour. You can handle this. I know you can. My mom is coming for you, and yours is waiting for you here. Breath, don't forget. Everything be fine."

"You'll be there too, right? Right?"

"Of course but I can't see you until you step down the aisle, right."

"Yeah, right. Thanks Drew. I feel better. See you then." She hanged up. I hope she would calm down because she wouldn't want to be a wreck on TV. This was a major event and is going to be broadcasted.

My stepfather came in and sat down. "We have our differences."

"Yes we do, many of them. I hold most of them against you to this day."

"Well then I'm sure that's a lot because I've made a lot of mistakes. But today, can you forget those so we can talk?"

"I can, and will. Since you asked."

"I'm glad."

"Marriage is…"

"Please, don't tell me what you think of marriage, because you left my mom, or have you forgotten what you did too?" I said. "I won't let you be a hypocrite about this. I don't need that."

"I may have done bad things but even those who do bad things know what they were supposed to do right. Just because I messed up, doesn't mean I don't know what I was expected to do. Don't underestimate me."

"So you know how much of a hypocrite you're being currently?"

"I had only said 2 words. Marriage is. Now I didn't say anything about what you are supposed to do. I'm just sharing the fact of the matter. Care to listen?"

"I guess." I answered him. I didn't mind listening to this. He was right, after two marriages he should know what to expect, shouldn't he.

"Marriage is the unification of 2 people. Forever. They're supposed to stay with one each other no matter what. To help that person, love them, take care of them, guide them and be there for them always." He said. "I know I did wrong to your mother Drew."

"Yes, yes you did."

"Thanks for your two cents but don't make my mistake."

"I didn't plan to."

"I'm glad to hear it. It hurts to know that you broke someone that was already broken. Pouring salt in their wounds."

"Why did you take me from my mother?"

"What?"

"Why, did, you, take me, from, my, mother." I said with pauses and as clearly as I could say.

"Because you were a boy, I wanted a son to teach and make mine. She let me. She could have easily fought against it but that's not she wanted to do."

"Why didn't she?"

"I'm not sure. Why haven't you asked her that?"

"Because we don't talk much."

"Why?"

"Because we can't under law." I'm just nearly 17. Only because our parents both agree in this could it happen.

"Yes, but you did."

"Yes I know. But I'm not under you house. I've separated myself now. I'm free, am I not?"

"Not yet Drew. Not yet."

"I'm aware."

"Good because…"

"You wouldn't."

"You're right. I wouldn't but I'm just saying that that doesn't mean that I can't." My stepdad, I had known him to play games, with me, with others… like my mom. It hurt when you did that to someone. I never did. I was always straight to someone. I wanted to be like that. I didn't want to hurt anyone.

"Why did you leave my mom?"

"She was young and pretty. She was easy to toy with. It was all too simple and easy." I wanted to attack him with some attack. Rosélia's preferably, just to spite him.

"You hate me don't you?"

"I try not to hate people."

"Does that mean that you can't?"

'No, it just means that I try not to. Just as I said." I replied.

I stood up and opened the door. Ash was there. "May just got here. Want to talk?" I nodded and I walked with him into the gardens of the school. It was nearby where the ceremony was. Someone here. May had prepared it.

"How are you doing?' I asked. He had arrived early this morning. Waiting here for us.

"I'm excited to see you to get married." He said. "I'm waiting for it."

"I'm thinking about May."

"She's really stressed out."

"I regret letting her do everything that she wanted to. I should have helped more even though she wanted to do it by herself." I told him. "She might have been less stressed and exhausted."

"But that's what she wanted and you just wanted to make her happy. I guess you could have stepped it but it's too late, right?" I nodded. "So how are you feeling now?"

"I'm doing fine. I'm just thinking about her. Do you think we're too young. May just turned 17 lately."

"Nah. I mean you guys love each other and you'll stay together. It's not like you want to separate or be with someone else. You guys have wanted to be with the other person for the longest, nothing will change that. I think the law is just so kids aren't foolish in getting married too young but you guys really love each other."

"Yeah, I'm just wondering."

"I know. For you guys before and after you get married won't change most things. You'll live together like before, be at the other's side and spend all your time together. Just a few differences. Like now it's official." I nodded, understanding everything he was saying.

May's dad walked into the garden, Ash left. I expected he wanted to talk to me. He sat down on another bench. "I'm fine. Just thinking about May." I knew he was going to ask me how I'm feeling.

"I know. You're calm and you're just thinking about May. That's not what I was going to ask." He said. "I was going to ask how my daughter is." I laughed and smiled.

"Really? Well she's exhausted. I shouldn't have let her do everything on her own."

"I said the same thing at my wedding to her mother. We knew your dad Drew. My wife competed with your mother all the same. I was more into battles though." I nodded, knowing about his background. "May, like her mother likes taking things into her hand, even to the point where she has exhausted herself and can't do more, she'll try."

"I know that from experience in fighting her."

"A lot of the time…" He said.

"… most of the time…" I added.

"you don't win." We laughed. We could finish that easily. That's how May was too.

"So what are you doing out here?" He asked.

"I'm clearing my mind. I was arguing with my dad. He was lecturing me."

"Most dad do. I did it to…"

"Sorry to interrupt but… he's not my father. He cheated on my mom and then divorced her. He hurt her badly. He has no right to tell me what marriage is supposed to be. Why would anyone go against what they're supposed to do if they know it?" I asked.

"Because… people make mistakes."

"Did you?"

"No. I'm glad to tell you that I found my wife much as the same way your parents found each other and you and May yourselves did. On the battlefield in one of the few contest matches I ever did. I was glad I did too." He told me.

"So what are you saying?"

"Some people make mistakes. They go off and marry someone who is beautiful and have no clue what they are getting themselves into. Some people agree to it without knowing how wrong it is. Then a mistake is born. Not knowing. Being too young."

"So…" I was still confused.

"I'm saying that just maybe your stepfather married your real mother just because she was pretty and talented, rich as well, wasn't she?" I don't remember much of anything from my childhood anymore.

"I don't know.' I answered.

'Well regardless. I think that he could have just married her for that. She… having lost her husband was trying to find love in someone else. Because she was hurt and there was no one to stop her. I don't know but I think that's what happened. Then he realized that he didn't love her… and so he divorced her and married someone, I do believe he loves. Or he wouldn't care about you. Would he?"

"Huh?"

"He cared to talk to you because he didn't want you to make the same mistake. He knows he messed up and he was just trying to correct the mistakes he had. I'm not sure why you're upset with him. Maybe just that but that could be all. Just give him a chance, if you want."

"I think I will." I said. It sounded like a good idea. "Thanks." He nodded and walked off. He stopped and turned around.

"You two have my blessing. I have to return to my daughter now. She's probably panicking." I nodded as he walked off.

"May and I will be together forever. This is not a mistake. I love her. She loves me. I will not make the same mistake you did father. Dad," I said looking at the sky. "I want your blessing too."

I closed my eyes and relaxed. "Rosélia!" Rosélia ran up to me. She was providing the flowers for the ceremony. I guess it was time I get going. It was almost time.

"Alright, I'm coming. Thanks for getting me."

"Rose." She handed me a rose and I put it in the spot in my tuxedo. It was beautiful. I loved roses. May did too. I guess that's why she loved when I'd give them to her "Beautifly". I laughed, how silly she could be sometime. I was trying but she was just a little too oblivious. "Rosélia!"

"Sorry, I'm coming." I said following her as we went inside the building to prepare the final preparations.

Before I knew it, I was waiting at the end of the aisle… for her. I hoped nothing was going on with her. I really hoped that she was okay. No second thoughts she had told me. Some how, I had doubts about that.

I could already tell our wedding would be an unusual one. Ash was standing next to me, looking as concerned as last time. "Am I allowed to call her?" I asked.

"I don't know. Ask the priest guy." Ash said. I looked at him. He shook his head. "I'll go check on them." I nodded as he walked off.

He came back after a while. He seemed as thought everything was fine. What was keeping her then? Soon the field was covered with petals as May walked down the aisle looking as beautiful as I've seen her. The dress just complimenting her beauty. It was like a light pink whitish color that I couldn't quite describe well.

Eventually, she was at arms reach as we went through our vows together, and were married. I held her as I kissed her and I loved that smile on her face as she looked at me. I just held her and the many, extremely so, people that were there all danced and partied.

We sat at a table and cut the extremely large cake that would surely be eaten by all the people that were there, waiting for us. We sat down with our best man and maid of honor, Ash and Misty. "Are you guys glad to be married now?"

"Of course we are." I said smiling.

"Yeah. I'm so happy." May said excitedly.

"I'm glad." Misty said.

"It's nice that you're talking with us and all but you have thousands of other people to talk too. Go talk to them." Ash said. "I'm going to come along too. You coming Mist?"

"Sure." She said, we all got up and walked.

"Hey guys." Tracy said to us. I had met him for a short time when he and Misty visited Ash. I happened to be there with May as well.

"Hi." May said.

"Thanks for inviting me May, and you too Drew. It's been a while hasn't it?" I shrugged. May nodded. "Congrats. I figured that today would be someday in the future."

"I think everyone knew." May said laughing about how oblivious we had been to each other. Just arguing away every time we saw each other.

"Sorta exactly like how you and Ash are." I said smirking. They both were blushing as everything was going on.

"Come on Drew." I nodded and we walked off. Misty doesn't like to be teased, especially by her friends. She can be quite aggressive afterward which we wouldn't want to provoke by staying there.

A little boy ran up to May and hugged her. May picked him up and hugged him back. "Hey James. How have you been?" May asked, setting him down.

"I'm doing amazing. I'm so happy you guys got married. It's so exciting." He said cheeringly.

"I'm glad too. Where's your mom?" He shrugged.

"Somewhere. I couldn't find her before either but I know she's here."

James was the kid that May and I watched and rescued, which is how she got her Azurill. He is the son of Ms. Markey. He was sick and followed after his pokémon after it ran off. He got lost and passed out. We saved him.

"Hey Drew, Hey May, Hi!" The duo of boys said. I hadn't seen them since the summer adventure thing. Their names are Ed and Mike.

"Hey." I said.

"Thanks for inviting us. I can't believe that you guys are married. I can't believe you guys are teachers. I can't believe anything that involves you two." Ed said.

"Thanks, I think?" May answered, confused.

"Good luck with your marriage. I'm sure you've got a ton of things to do, right?" Mike asked.

"I'm not sure if we do but whatever." I said.

"Yeah whatever back at ya." Ed said pulling his friend off.

"May darling." May crossed her arms and glared as Harley walked over.

"Back of Harley." Solidad said. "Hi guys, I'm sure you're doing fine."

"I am. She's exhausted." I said, she, referring to May.

"Who would blame her? With all the stuff she's been taking care of her, of course she is." Solidad said.

"She volunteered for it all." Solidad looked at May like she was crazy. Then she looked at me like I was supposed to stop her.

"It's not Drew's fault."

"I just let her do what she wanted." I said. "She did an excellent job didn't she?"

"Yes she did. Wonderful job May." Solidad complimented.

"I agree." Harley said.

"Back of Harley." Both girl said glaring.

"You better listen or I'll deal with you myself." I said, warning him.

"Alright. Protective much?"

"Yes I am." I said.

"Well we have more people to greet, bye." May said waving as we walked off. "Do you think I was too harsh?"

"No. He'll learn that way."

"You think so."

"Yeah. Because if he doesn't. I handle it." I said. She smiled and we walked over to her parents, sitting down.

"You guys are having a great time aren't you?" Her father, my father-in-law asked.

"And you should. It's your wedding day after all." Her mom added.

"Yeah it is. All day." May said happily.

"And all night." I added. "Until midnight."

"Yeah, that too." May said laughing.

"Well enjoy yourselves." Her mom said.

"We will." I said.

"Yeah." May said. We talked for a long while longer until we decided to go off on our own in the gardens, to talk and whatnot.

We sat down by a beautiful water fountain. We sat on the edge of it and she smiled. "We're married!" She screamed as loud as she could manage. If someone was trying to find us, they'd find us.

"Yes we are May." I said smiling. She looked beautiful in her dress. "You look beautiful May." I didn't remember telling her that.

"Thanks you look extremely handsome too." She said. She rested her head against my chest. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with pieces arranged as they came out from it and fell the length of her back. "So where are we going?"

Of all the things I let her do. I had requested to pick the place we go for our honeymoon. I didn't plan to tell her until we got there. It would be a surprise. It was a place in a small tropical island called "Valley of the Roses." It was between two mountains and every kind of rose grew there. It's famous for their pokémon, just two to name being Rosélia and Beautifly. I know she'd love it. It was an island so the tropical summer weather even in winter, would allow us to go swimming or whatever else we'd want to do.

"I'm not telling you. Get over it." I said. "Not until later today. It's not long. You can wait." I said.

"No I can't. I'm so excited. Does anyone know?"

"Yes, but I'm not telling you who."

"Drew…" She said pouting.

"Come on, we have to eat too you know." I said taking her hand and guiding her to the place where the food was. "Sit, I'll get our food for us."

"Fine but I will find out." She said.

"Yes you will, tonight. I've made sure that there is no way that you'll find out. It's impossible." I said with a smile.

"Is that a challenge?"

"No." I answered. "It's a statement. This would be a challenge. "I Drew Kito challenge you, May Kito to a battle, but I'm not."

"Drew!" May complained.

"I'm going to get us something to eat." I said. I walked over to Lily and Max. "Go sit with May. She's going to do something irrational."

"You really think she would?" Max asked.

"Knowing her, yes." Lily answered for me.

"Why?" Max asked.

"She wants to know where they're going for the honeymoon, of course." Lily said, knowing everything.

"Oh, is that all. Why don't you just tell her then? It'll save you some work."

"It's better to have a surprise for her. It's not the only surprise I have for her." I said with a smirk.

"Really?" Lily asked.

"I thought that's all you planned." Max said.

"That's all I told everyone I planned. There's much more." I said.

We ate and the day continued until May was going to start tackling me to the ground if I didn't tell you. I sighed, I stepped in front of everyone. "Well everyone, May's rather inpatient about getting going so we're going to have our first dance as a married couple and take our leave."

"Music please." May said.

The music played and we danced through the song, we then excused ourselves so she and I could change. We were going on a boat there so we could leave at any time. No, I didn't spare any cost for this wonderful day.

I covered her eyes with a blindfold as I carefully led her out to the boating dock. It was a personal cruise ship that I had rented out for today. It was around 4. We'd arrive at another city where we'd get on a personal plane and arrive their around dawn.

"Why am I blindfolded is this supposed to be ironic?" She asked me.

"No, it's not." I said as I took it off and she saw the boat.

"Wow Drew…" I pulled her after me as we climbed on board the ship and took off.

She ran around the ship like a little child, which I didn't mind. She was happy and excited and that's what I love May for, being herself. She is rather childish but that's just how she is. I don't mind at all. As she continued running I grabbed her and took her to the front of the ship.

"We're almost at our first destination. The airport." I said. She looked at me.

"Where are we going?!" She yelled.

"You'll know when we get there, won't you?"

"Yes but I want to know."

"Now, I know." I said as we climbed onto the plane and we waited until it was within viewing distance.

"May, come on." She sighed, she had been pouting for the last few hours. I guided her to the viewing port above the cockpit.

"Where is this place?" She asked me.

"It's the Valley of the Roses." She hugged me. It was a place of dreams. Everyone knew about it but it was very hard to get to, not to mention rather expensive. Nevertheless, as I said, I didn't spare cost for today, or the next 2 weeks at that.

We arrived and May hadn't let go of me. She was so happy that she was going to hug me to death. Not that I'd mind, very much. I'd like to be married to her for more than a couple of hours. "Come on." I said as we went through customs and stepped foot on the island.

I guided her to the Ocean Seaside Resort that we would be staying at and we went to the balcony as the water glistened as the sunset, it was beautiful. "Drew… thank you." She said. She was crying, because she was happy.

I wiped her tears. "You're welcome, come along." I said guiding her out to the edge of the waves.

"Are we going swimming?" She asked.

"Sorry but that's planned for tomorrow."

"How long are we staying?" She asked.

"2 weeks, or longer if you want?"

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah, but I've already paid for 2 weeks. We can stay long if you want." I said.

"I'd love that." I nodded, kissing her.

"Me too."

We sat beside the waves, in the sand, even though we were getting sandy, we didn't care. We watched as the sun set in the distance. It was beyond any sunset I had every seen before. "Isn't it beautiful Drew?" She asked.

"Yes it is. It reminds me of you." I wrapped my arms around her as she leaned against me and we watched the sunset.

After the sun had set, I guided her back to the room were dinner had been laid out for us, and we ate, on the balcony, over looking the seat. It was beautiful.

"Drew, what if we hadn't met for that contest? What would have became of us?" She dared ask.

"I don't know May. And you know what. I really don't care. I have all I could ever want know."

Many people wonder where they would have been if they… (Insert event here)… hadn't happened. You know what. I don't want to know because somehow I doubt whatever… (Event)… happened would have given me the same perfect results as I have now. I think everything is perfect how it is now. I don't want to change it. I don't want to know what else could have happened. I just want to live in the now, with May.

"Are you sure?"

"Would I have married you if I wasn't?" I asked her back.

"No, but I'm just making sure."

"You know what May?"

"No."

"It's kind of too late to have second thoughts."

"Because we're married?" She asked.

"No because I've thought about it beyond 2 times. So many times. I'm 100 sure. It's too late know. I love you."

"I love you too Drew." She turned to look at me and I kissed her.

(A/N: Hope you liked these chapters. 2 to go. Then I say good-bye to you all. Until next time. Don't forget to review.)


	26. ◊ The Future of May and Drew ◊

(Epilogue) Chapter 22: The Future of Drew and May

∆ (May and Drew's Home) ∆ - ¤ (8 years later- age 24) ¤ - Φ (May) Φ

A/N: I'm sorry I was doing a flowchart for a professor friend of mine at a college campus nearby that I assist with, so I couldn't finish last night. Its 3 different times within the same chapter. I extended this one to incorporate the other. One chapter of all the epilogue sets.

I sighed as I took my little 3-year-old daughter's hand and guided her through the halls of the house. "Mommy, where's Daddy gone."

"Just outside, with the pokémon." I told her.

"I come too?"

"Sure, we'll go out there." I said as we walked through the back into the open field.

"Hey May, how is she today?"

"Fine Daddy." She answered. I picked her up and carried her to Drew. Drew held her as I sat down in the grass and called my pokémon to me.

"Beautifly."

"You're first as always. How are you doing?" I didn't have a lot of time to spend with my pokémon. Especially since I let many of them go freely. Beautifly however, I used during many of my classes and she stayed nearby while many of my other pokémon had gone other places along my journeys with Drew lately.

We've been settled down for a while, since I had Mindi. She absolutely loves pokémon and adores being with them. She can't even manage to go far without having a pokémon at her side. She may not be allowed to have a pokémon of her own yet, or go on a journey alone but she has the pokémon's companionship.

Mindi has dark green hair which is weird but adorable. She also happened to get Drew's grass green eyes which match her hair nicely. I put her hair up into two pigtails on either side of her hair because she got it off some TV show. It causes problems for her a lot, she gets her hair stuck in trees when she wonders off.

"School today?" She asked us.

"No silly, it's a Saturday." I told her as I climbed up into a tree and Drew handed her to me. She liked sitting in trees but only when she was with Rosélia, Beautifly, Bulbasaur, any grass pokémon or drew or I. That way if she falls, they can catch her or hold her while she's up there.

"Yeah, time with mommy and daddy!" She was a smart and missed Drew or I while we were gone. We worked certain classes of the day, Drew did afternoons to nights since he hated mornings. He wasn't a morning person.

"Actually your Aunts are visiting, and your Uncles." I laughed. A lot of things had changed since then.

"Really?" She yelled.

"Yes really." I answered her.

"You girls are really loud." Drew said from below us. He was leaning against the trunk of the tree.

"Thanks." I told him.

"Hey Mindi, May, Drew, how are you guys?" Called a 16 year old from the house. It was James. He was a student at the school still. He had won his first grand cup this year. He studied under Drew and I for a while.

His style was more like his mother's but he learned his skills from us. She was a full-time teacher unlike Drew and I. I remember when and how we use to train him, about 3 years ago. Drew was working full-time at the time as well.

Ж (Flashback) Ж

I was sitting in the backyard; it was about three years ago. Directly after Mindi was born. He was 13 at the time. I was sitting and rocking her in my arms. He came around behind the house. "May, can I talk to you? I know you're busy and all but I need to ask you something."

"Sure." I answered him. "Take a seat." I said motioning to another chair that was on the back porch.

"Thanks."

"So what do you need to ask?" I asked him.

"Could you help me with my Coordinating. My mom and Drew have full-time classes and I don't have time to be around. I just need a little assistance here and there. Since you're off, I was thinking that you could give me some assistance."

"I guess so."

"When do you want to start?" He asked. "Oh… and thank you so much. If you need anything, I'll try to do it."

"No problem but if I need a babysitter, I'll call." He smiled.

"Sure thing." He said.

"Also, today, right now is as good a time as any, if you have your pokémon."

"I do."

"When why can't we begin now?"

"I don't know. I thought you'd want time with your kid or something."

"I think I can watching a sleeping child and judge your contest moves as well. I do it all the time during the summer." I said with a smile.

"Right. Alright."

"Just show me a few of your approach moves and such. Go ahead." I said. I worked with him like that any time he would be over, I helped him improve. When I wasn't home, Drew would help him but someone always was for a long time.

Ж (Flashback Over) Ж

"We're all good. Mindi say hi to James." I told her.

"Hi James."

"Hey Mindi, you remember me?" She shook her head. "It's okay, how are you?"

"Happy."

"What's going on?"

"Uncles."

"Who?"

"Drew's sisters are visiting which also means a visit from my brother." I explained to James.

James, if you had forgotten was the eight year old at our wedding, 8 years ago. He was Ms. Markey's son. He hanged around the school a lot now a days. He was 16 now as I said earlier. He enjoyed visiting, he babysat on occasion too, when he wasn't busy.

"How are things with you?" Drew asked.

"Not bad at all. I'm bored because I don't feel up to doing contests. Why didn't you and Drew do anymore?"

"Because we started out at the hardest contest levels for pairs, and won it. There was no use doing lower level pairs. We were the best; it was no matter to go farther."

"I see, well I beat a medium level contest. So I want to go up. But I think I want a break, to relax with my pokémon, what do you think?"

"I think it's a smart thing to do." Drew said. "Time off is always good. Try pairs." He suggested.

"What?"

"Find a partner who you can work with very well and try to do pairs this summer. You have months to decide where you want to go. I suggest trying a medium level pairs contest."

"I agree." I said with a smile.

"Like I could find a partner with this short of notice." James said.

"You never know." I said.

"Many people go there without knowing what this place is all about. We did and we turned out fine." Drew commented.

"Yeah James." Mindi yelled for no reason.

"I think I will. I have a week though, so can you guys give me some expert tutoring? I only have learned from the best."

"I know but we have family coming over." I said.

"Maybe tomorrow." Drew suggested. "You'd still have 6 days and you'll be fine… as long as you can find a partner who you can work with to a great extent."

"That's important?"

"Extremely." I said.

"If you can't work with your partner and trust them as yourself, it's all useless." Drew added. "Because that's what the judges look for, a true pair of working teammates."

"Then I have to find someone." James said, sighing.

"Two weeks until summer when the contests for pairings begin. Most don't even start week one anyway. You have many opportunities but remember you can easily get beyond the number of needed ribbons in these contests." Drew commented, again.

"Why would someone?"

"To limit their competition. Or just to compete." I added in.

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Drew said. He walked to the door as I carefully handed Mindi to Rosélia and climbed out of the tree.

Drew came back with Victoria, Jacob, Lily and Max."

"Drew!" Lily said running to him and hugging him.

"Aunt." Mindi said when she saw Lily.

"How are you Mindi?"

"Happy." Lily picked up her niece.

"Wow, you're getting big." Mindi smiled.

"She is." I said.

"Definitely." Drew said.

"How are you?" I asked Jacob. Victoria had married Jacob and became an entirely different person since she met him. She wasn't the same strict person she was. He was nothing we'd expect Victoria to marry.

"Very well, Victoria is fine as well."

"I can speak for myself, you know." Victoria said.

"No way." I said laughing.

"Yes way." Jacob said. Drew smirked and Max and Lily thought we were all crazy.

" Victoria's pregnant." I told them.

"Really?" Lily asked. "That's so great Vic." She said hugging her sister.

"Careful." Victoria said.

"Don't worry at whatever your stage a hug couldn't do damage to the baby."

"What baby?" Mindi asked pulling on my pants.

"The one in Victoria's tummy." James said as childish as he could explain.

Mindi began crying. We all looked at her. "She ate her baby."

I looked at Drew. He sighed. "We were just kidding Mindi." I looked at him. That was so smart to do.

"Really?" She asked.

"Yeah. Who wants ice cream?" He asked. I sighed, that's smart to stay off the topic immediately.

"I'm tired." Mindi said. I picked her up.

"Alright I'll put you to bed." I said.

"No." She said.

"Ice cream first?" I asked her.

"Yeah!"

"I figured. Come on." We went into the kitchen and served everyone ice cream.

"You seen mom lately?" Drew asked Victoria.

"Yeah, we visited her before we came. We don't see her much but she seems happy."

"I'm glad." Drew said.

"Who?" Mindi asked.

"Your grandmother, Drew's first mom." Mindi nodded. She got confused with all the grandmas so we had my mom and his mom 1 and mom 2. Mom 2 was his stepmother but we tried to get along with them. We've been trying since the wedding.

"And my dad?" Lily asked.

"I haven't talked to him since the wedding still." Drew said with a slight disappointment in his tone.

"Maybe we should, this summer." I suggested. "He doesn't know anything about our family."

"Does he deserve to?" Drew asked.

"I want to meet him." Mindi yelled.

"I agree. 8 years is a long time." He sighed.

"Fine we will, I promise." Drew said.

"Yeah!" Mindi yelled.

"Thanks Drew." I said smiling.

"Whatever." He answered.

"Drew, they're family. Respect them." Victoria commanded.

"Who are you?"

"Auntie." Mindi said.

"Yeah, your auntie. No wait, your sister." Victoria said.

"I'll make up. But I won't like it." Drew said.

"Good Daddy." Mindi said. He was getting annoyed. I picked her up, time for a nap. She smiled as I put her to bed and we talked for a while until she returned. Escaping from her room with the help of probably Beautifly or Rosélia who I believe like her more than us sometimes.

"Have you talked to Harley and Solidad lately?" James asked me after our siblings had left.

"No, but I think we'll be seeing them soon. Who knows what's changed. We haven't been much in touch with all the things we both do. Then there's our darling daughter Mindi." I said.

"Yeah." She yelled.

"Quite Mindi." Drew said.

"Sorry." She said.

We all went to bed and prepared for our daily routines. I didn't usually see much of Drew until around 6 when he got back from school and we all hung around the house together. We were a good family. She wasn't lonely; if we weren't playing with her, she had plenty of friends among the pokémon. She grew up how James had.

James came over and spent all day with us training. Even Mindi was help in helping him perfect his contest moves. She would either like or hate anything he did. She had been raised around pokémon and knowing if they looked pretty or not was something anyone could do, especially her.

Soon he left for the pair contests in Southern Lazio Region. She met a girl named Kitty McLain. She was kind and friendly. She was just like Drew and I, they had been competing for years, and he called her up to ask her to be his partner and they are doing well, on their first contest. It was messy but they'll get better. They don't ever talk and they don't get along extremely well but they'll get there.

Drew is happy hanging around the house, watching Mindi or teaching. He's happy doing anything, as long as Mindi and I are around. Rosélia, if not with Mindi is still by his side. Just like my pokémon are with me. Maril, formally Azurill, who evolved, is still on my shoulder at most times of the day. Mindi just adores play in the pool with Maril.

Max married Lily last summer and they're happy together. They get along great but Max and Lily are still competing in their own ways and don't plan on settling down anytime soon. As long as they're together, they tell me.

I had just put Mindi to bed and I went outside. Drew was sitting on the porch fence and looking into the forest. "I challenge you to a contest style match." I said behind him.

He turned around, looking at me as if I were crazy. "I'm not crazy Drew. I just want to challenge you. Maril versus Rosélia in a regular contest match. He's never been in one, come on." I begged him.

"Well… we haven't done one in a while. I guess. I'll go get Rosélia. You get Maril."

"Will do, be back." I said as I ran into the forest to the spring to get him, and Drew went inside to get Rosélia. "I'm ready." I called.

"Me too."

"Start." We both called at the same time. I let a toxin into the air. Before I knew it, a leech seed was coming at me. Azurill dodged quickly by rolling to it's side.

"Man that was close." I said out load. What he didn't know is I then used water pulse, I saw as that hit but he countered with shadow ball.

I dodged that and then sent ice beam at him, also using brick break to take down his barrier and hit him dead on. He hit me before I knew it with bullet seed. It was too late for a barrier but what he didn't know was I was also using endure and flash to lessen it, cutting the damage down by storing energy up. I was winning by my count.

I then hit him with Rain Dance which was countered with Petal Dance. We both charged our attacks, Maril with a focus punch, and Rosélia with solar beam. I won in the end making it a 51-49 score of all the matches we've had over the years. Most of his wins were during my pregnancy which shouldn't matter since I didn't get hurt, except that one time but it wasn't Drew's fault.

"Wow." I heard a little voice yell. I looked to see Mindi at her window, watching us most likely.

"You need something." I said. "What do you need?"

"I'm lonely. Rosélia disappeared." That was another reason the matches weren't fair, not most of the time. Maril was a low level as in experience pokémon, but young while Rosélia was very experienced but didn't do any training but played with Mindi all day.

"Sorry, but we were just having a match." Drew said. "She'll be right up."

"It's okay. Night." She said as she returned to bed.

"She's amazing isn't she?" I asked as I sat beside Drew on the fence of the porch.

"She's ours, so of course she is. What did you expect?" Drew said, wrapping his arms against me.

"Aren't most children a chore to handle?" I asked him.

"I guess but this is our kid, Mindi is who she is. When she was young, she was a handful. Who knows if she will be any day soon." Drew suggested.

"We can handle it."

"Yet somehow I don't think she will be. She's gentle by nature. Were either of troublesome children?" Drew asked. "My mom never talks about it and when I lived with my step dad, I was 9 and completely dependant on myself, besides food and shelter and basics."

"I understand. I don't know about me though. The only problem my mom ever mentioned was how I'd argue and fight with Max, constantly." I told him. "Who would she fight with?"

"I don't know." He answered me.

"Do you think she'll go off and train when she's 10?" I asked.

"Most likely, she's a girl who loves pokémon, what else would she do?" He asked.

"Who knows, she could be a breeder, coordinator, or a trainer. Who really does know? There are so many jobs that involve pokémon. She may just want to major in pokémon studies here. She also may want to attend the school for a while before she leaves… even though it's a college."

"Why is it called a college if more kids are there then teens, it's an academy really." I said.

"Yes but let's not get off topic."

"True. So Mindi is going to be great, no matter what she does. They're a world of things she can do. This is just her beginning." I said.

"But not ours."

"Maybe it is. Our adventure as a family of 3."

"Or 4?" Drew asked. "Or 19? Or 24?"

"Eh?"

"I don't know. If you count the pokémon or not?"

"Of course the pokémon. Our adventure as a family of pokémon loving people." I said, giggling all the way.

∆ (Home) ∆ - ¤ (2 more years later – age 27-5) ¤ - Φ (Drew) Φ

May walked about the house with Ken, our second born child. Mindi was completely independent of us now a days while Ken needed us as all newborns did. Mindi was always talking and she was starting kindergarten classes, as required by law for at least 5 years before you can even become a trainer.

The pokémon followed her to school and it reminds me of the story of Mary had a little lamb. Mindi loves the story. It's extremely close to how her life is, but yet so different. However, pokémon are widely accepted in most schools, including hers. They are allowed in the classes, as long as they do not cause problems are disruptions which our trained pokémon have never been known for doing.

"Isn't he so cute?" May asked as she sat down beside me with Ken.

"Yeah he is May." I said looking into the little child's eyes. He's so small, even compared to Mindi. Mindi was an extremely small child to begin with. Yet again, it was a rather difficult birth for May. So many accidents in her life left her body very weak over time, but everything is well with the kids, and May.

"Why did we name him Ken again?" I shrugged, why did we name our daughter Mindi. I wasn't sure but those are two names that came up in our minds when we thought of names, and we liked them.

"I always wondered the same thing." I answered him.

Mindi walked out and tripped down the stairs, falling on top of Chikorita. My newest grass pokémon that I'm training for newer coordinators and trainers.

"Sorry." She said, petting her pokémon.

"Chika." It said rubbing against Mindi.

"Sorry again."

"Rita." It said again. Mindi picked up Chikorita.

"What kind of pokémon do you want?" I asked her.

"Chikorita!" She said.

"Chikor-Rita." Chikorita cheered.

"That pokémon is for someone else."

"I want a Chikorita!" She screamed.

"In time, we'll get you one. That is for someone else." I told her.

"Alright."

"Chika." She sad sadly.

"It's okay." May said as her daughter sat next to her.

"May, what are we doing this weekend?" I asked.

"Ash and Misty are coming over." She told me.

"How are their kids?" I asked.

"Pretty good. Amy, their newest little daughter is doing well. Their son goes to school far away. He was too much of a troublemaker. Their son's name is Alex."

"So they're coming over?" I asked.

"Yeah." May answered.

"I wonder if Alex and Mindi will get along."

"Maybe, who knows?" May said.

"With them being so different who knows, they may fight or get along like the siblings they never had." I said.

"Hopefully their love of pokémon will at least give them something in common."

"Who knows what the future holds?" I said as May walked through the yard and she smiled at our son.

"I for sure don't." She answered.

"I wouldn't want to. I like surprises much better than I like knowing what is going to come next."

'I like surprises too, no matter what. I don't like some surprises. I like also making choices about what I should do, or happen. It makes me feel that destiny isn't existent though sometimes I know it does."

"I understand. I like to think that my life is just what I said, mine."

"I enjoy the surprises and changes of life."

"Well then I can't wait until they arrive."

"Me too." Mindi said.

"Do you know who's coming?"

"No, but someone is."

"Yeah." I said.

"Who!" She yelled.

"Ash, Misty, Alex and Amy." I told her.

"Yeah!" Mindi yelled.

"Well they'll be here tomorrow."

"I can't wait." She said.

"I know. I'm so excited too." Mindi yelled.


	27. ◊ Finale, Her Life ◊

Final Chapter- 25: Her Life

∆ (Lazio Region) ∆ - ¤ (10 Years Later) ¤ - Φ (Mindi) Φ

My name is Mindi Kito. You probably don't know me. I'm the daughter of May, formally Adena, and Drew Kito. They are famous pokémon coordinators in the Lazio Region. They did the best in the individuals but it wasn't really their thing. So they both decided that going to the next one is the best thing. The next was to do pairs and that's where they started their success story.

They won every contest they entered. They won 2x as many ribbons plus some than it was required for them to get into the main contest. When they were 16, they were engaged, during that same contest. Before that they were just mere competitors. I took a life in Coordinating but that wasn't where I succeeded, I just got 1 ribbon cup, but a new type of jobs were offered for pokémon lovers like me. That's where I stand.

It's called team battling, two team members again a world of competitors. The more metals you have, the farther you go. I just have one problem; I need a partner. My parents said that I'll find a partner, but I highly doubt that. I mean, this is the first time I've ever left the Coordinating community. I won't know anyone. Like they'd trust my skills in abilities to do such events like this.

"Daddy, do you truly believe that I can find a partner?" I asked my friends.

"Of course Mindi. You'll find someone. As the rules say it doesn't matter if you changed partners between matches, as long as you have a partner, it would be unfair otherwise."

"Of course I understand that."

"You'll find a sibling sis." Ken, now 10 said. He's my little brother, but I love him all the same. I wished him luck in coming along with me to start his own life in Coordinating or whatever he chooses to do. I love how Lazio offers these amazing innovative contests and matches, it's so different, so cool.

"I hope so. I don't want to get behind, you know."

"It's a great tournament, you'll do fine. Remember, if you loose you have to give up a metal but if you have no metals, then you can't compete anymore so make sure you don't loose."

"I won't, I promise." I said to my little brother Ken. I couldn't rightfully promise that since you know, I had another person to rely on and I generally disliked relying on others but my parents said it's in my blood to be good at it. I sure hope so.

"Are we leaving now or not?" Ken asked with all his stuff packed up on his Taurus. He jumped on it's back and I got on Ponyta and we rode off. They didn't mind us riding them, they enjoyed it. Taurus sometimes complained but that's when Ken would let him walk by himself. Ken could walk fine but enjoyed riding better. Ponyta loved being ridden more than most ponyta's did.

I'm about 5'9". It's a good size for someone my age. I'm 16 by the way, if I didn't say so. So I'm traveling with my brother Ken Kito. We're arriving in mainland Lazio so we're going into the pokémon center.

Someone smashed into me and I landed on the ground. I looked up to see Alex.

"Hey Alex." I said. It's been a while since I've seen him. He was the son of my parents' best friends, Ash and Misty.

"Hey… forgot your name. Sorry." I noticed there was a pokémon, a Pikachu beside him. He picked it up and put him on his shoulder.

"It's fine. I'm Mindi."

"Really and truly?" He asked, joking.

"Yes. How are you?"

"Cool. I'm starting out on my journey now."

"Here?"

"No. I've been for the last few years, 6."

"Why did you say starting out now."

"I was talking about nowadays, Mindi."

"Oh. It has been 6 years since we talked. I didn't know you were here though."

"Me too. About you that is." I giggled, unknowingly.

"So what kind of pokémon you got in your arsenal?" He asked.

"A Squirtle, a beautifly, a pontya, a Rosélia and a Haunter. Oh yeah, and Alakazam."

"Wow, you've got quite a collection."

"Not really. My parents gave me the Squirtle, Beautifly and Rosélia." I said. "It's a family thing, the Beautifly and Rosélia. Squirtle was just my starter pokémon."

"Oh… your parents are…"

"They work at the Coordinating College."

"Right, I forget a lot of things."

"Your pokémon?"

"No… I remembered them… this time."

"This time?"

"I left them at home… once… or twice." He said laughing.

"Really?"

"Mom was laughing about it but my dad was sulking, not sure why though."

"Maybe he's done that before?" I suggested to him.

"Maybe." He said. "But my dad's a head gym leader, so I somehow don't think so."

"Everyone makes mistakes." I reminded him.

"True."

"So where's your partner?" I asked.

"And yours?" He asked.

"Don't got one." I answered.

"Me neither, but so what." He said.

"You need one to go."

"I'll manage when I get there."

"As if." I said.

"What about you?"

"I'm trying to find a partner, and I will before we get there."

"News to you, we're already there." I looked at the clock, it was time for us to sign-up and me without a partner. How long had we been talking? "You were already here when you ran into me too, if you didn't forget."

"Ahem. I think you ran into me."

"No… you did."

"Whatever. Bye."

"Stop." He said. I turned around. "Why don't we partner up, we don't have time to both search around. We're both excellent right?"

"Yes, I think you maybe."

"Likewise with you, I've never seen your skills but you've obviously got some if you made it here."

"Ahem. I've already won a ribbon cup."

"And I've got a trophy from the Johto League too. So what?" He said.

"Whatever, let's go. You're right, we both need a partner and all we have to trust in for these matches is each other."

"That was uplifting." He said sarcastically. "We have a friendship through our parents and major skills, so we have that and our pokémon. The bonds may be difficult but we can handle it. Communication is key."

"Yeah… exactly." I said with a smile.

"That's better. Now let's go." He said pulling me to the desk as we signed paperwork.

Mindi Kito, 16, former contest coordinator. Pokémon: Alakazam, Beautifly, Rosélia, Squirtle, Haunter and Ponyta. I wrote on the slip of paper.

Alex Ketchum, 16, former trainer. Pokémon: Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Charzard and Raticate. I saw on his paper.

We went on stage, the battle would be tough and I didn't know what to expect, but I hoped that it would be something that would help us win.

"First Team Up." A voice called. She was the announcer, Lillian Best. "Alex and Mindi. You're up."

"Ready?" He asked with a pokéball in hand.

"Yeah, of course." I said.

"What pokémon ya using?" He asked.

"Um… what do you suggest?"

"I'm using Pikachu so go with… a grass pokémon. How about Beautifly?"

"Sounds good." I answered pulling her pokémon off my belt my mom had created for my pokémon.

We stepped up and I threw the pokéball out. His Pikachu just jumped off his shoulder. "Pikachu… Beautifly… we choose you." We called.

Our opponents had a Charmander and a Blastoise which was an interesting combination since we could easily turn their attacks against them. I couldn't wait to see if he could see that.

"Guys, you can use walkie-talkie headphones if you need them." Lillian said holding them out in her hands. She looked to be about our age, maybe older. Like 20 maybe.

"Sure, sounds good to me." I said taking one.

"Sweet." He said snatching it from her and putting it on his ear.

"There is… an optional communicator for your pokémon." She suggested.

"A communicator?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's used during contests nowadays to communicate commands between trainer and pokémon."

"Ha. I don't do that." I said.

"You don't?" He asked.

"Mom said that it's an advantage to have a bond with a code between only you and your pokémon."

"What about teams?"

"Mom was best at that, dad too, you know that."

"Your dad knew the code?"

"No, he went with whatever she did, and vice versa. They knew everything the other was going to do before they did it. It was the most phenomenal thing, to this day that a pair has ever done. Next to my dad's birth parents' achievements, that was amazing as well." I said smiling.

"Could you do me a favor and just tell me what you mean since I don't have that sort of bond with you?" He asked.

"Of course I will. I would never expect you to be as good and close as my parents were. I mean we barely know each other that well, beyond the point that we've just truly learned about each other and they had years to bond, it's just a challenge. I wouldn't expect you to."

"Go to hear it. But I know eventually, I'll learn about you."

"Me too. We'll get to know each other, because… it's important to this. I mean, if anyone would make a good team, we would, right?"

"Yep, definitely." He said.

"Sweet so let's show them the best we can do."

We stepped onto the arena. It was huge and there were people all around, every match was like a contest, millions of cheering fans waiting for a match and you could sit all day and watch matches, or come for only the best, or the worst, whatever your style was. It was amazing and a new generation of contests.

We were the first match. Our opponents were just staring at us. "Begin." She said. These weren't contest rules, and I wasn't good with battle rules. I'd need some help with that.

"I'll do an attack, then when they return the attack, which they will. Reflect it back at them. I'll make sure there's no interference. Got that pokémon?" I called to them.

"Beauti-fly." Beautifly answered.

"Pika." It answered.

"9." I called to Beautifly through the speaker.

Silver Wind flew across the stage. The countered, as expected, he used a light field, sending the attack. I used Safeguard-reverse to hold them pokémon there as the field was charged with a combination of attacks. "What is that?"

"A unique technique of my parents." I said. "Just watch." I said with a smile.

A combination of all of its attacks that were blasted inside, including their own took out their fire pokémon. Now for the remaining one. "I got this." He said. "Pikachu, thunderbolt."

Thunder shot across the field from the small electric mouse shocking the water pokémon to submission from being too confused to counter. "What a bore." I said.

"Totally not a challenge." He answered.

"We did pretty well didn't we?" I asked.

"You did most of it." He said.

"Yeah but I couldn't have done it alone, and that's all that matters."

"Well… you certainly got skills Madame Mindi." A voice said. I turned around to see a girl that was walking proudly toward me. Kais. (Kay-est). She was the daughter of my parents' friends slash opponents Harley and Solidad. She's never beaten me a day in her life but she thinks she's so much better.

"Yes, just like her parents. Drew and May." Solidad, my parents' friend said putting a hand on her daughter's shoulders. They traveled with their darling daughter, what pests.

"Who are these guys?" Alex asked.

"You are?" Harley said.

"What a joke Kais, to come here." I said sighing. "If I'm here, and you're here, why did you come?"

'To beat you. I mean you're weaker with a partner. My mom and dad said so."

"Be adventurous… stay with mommy and daddy." Alex said laughing.

"Ahem. What are you saying?" Kais said walking up to Alex.

"Be careful about him, a challenger." Solidad said. "Misty and Ash's child."

"Really?" Harley said, laughing. "I thought they'd have more than a kid like him."

"Don't underestimate me, or I'll beat you." Alex warned them.

"As if." Harley said.

"You like partner contest matches right?" I asked. They all looked at me.

"Yes we do." Solidad answered with a smile.

"I challenge you both to a contest match, partners." I said.

"Mindi?" Alex asked.

"They are minor league Alex. It's a contest battle."

"I don't think we should underestimate them."

"We're not." I answered. "I know them. I know we're better."

"Alright, if you say so." He said.

"Squirtle, I choose you." I said tossing out its pokéball.

"A week starter pokémon?" Solidad asked. "I'm afraid you like challenges… don't you?"

"Do you?"

"Yes I do."

"So do I, but the only challenge is the one for me, for you. Your going to be challenged." I said. "I promise you that."

"You've got May's spunk and Drew's back talk, but do you have their skill?" Harley said.

"I'm both of their child so I'm sure I've got some skill, right?" I said.

"Let me give you a hint, personality and skill come with raising a child and training, not birth." Solidad told me.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Mom and Dad's parents were both amazing as well, well… their birth parents were so I'm sure that 3G of amazing trainers and coordinators won't stop with me." I yelled.

"I'm beginning to really get a feel of your personality. I like it. Let's go all out. No holding back because they're… well them." Alex said.

"I wasn't planning on it. Always full forward." I answered.

"You two think you can win… against my parents?" Kais asked.

"I'm sure." I said.

"Me too." Alex said.

"You are crazy." Kais said. "But I'm sure I'll learn something from this about going beyond my reaches is something."

"Talk later, battle now." Alex said, his Pikachu jumping off his shoulder.

"Doesn't it need rest?"

"Nah. He's cool. Aren't you little buddy?"

"Pika… chu." It said. I smiled. This is going to be great. I wish it could be on TV. Boy would mom and dad be proud, but they'd believe me if I said it. Alex's parents would too, I just know it.'

"I choose you Cacturne." Harley said as he threw the pokéball.

"Dewgong, your up." Solidad said as she followed likewise.

"One Grass, one Electric, and two Water pokémon. So easy… so sweet." I said.

"Man how lucky is it that we've got their weaknesses covered by picking first?"

"Never underestimate us by types." Harley said.

"I'm just making a point." I said.

"Dewgong… In snow, the pure white coat covering its body obscures it from predators." My pokédex said as I pulled it out and pointed it at the water/ice pokémon. I read the stats, they weren't so favorable compared to my Squirtle, it being a much higher, but then again we've gone against everything and still won. With Alex there. We'd be sure to win.

"Cacturne… It becomes active at night, seeking prey that is exhausted from the day's desert heat." Alex's pokédex read to us.

I was actually having a problem discovering how to beat them. I know that Pikachu could handle her Dewgong but that would leave me with another fully evolved Cacturne. "Don't worry Min."

"Eh?"

"Min, it's short for your name."

"Not that." I yelled. I sighed, I wasn't an idiot. "I'm not worried." I said.

"I can read your face, your so obvious." He said. "We'll win, I know we will."

"So did I, but it just might not be as easy as we though." I said.

"I'm cool with a challenge. The more challenge the better. I don't like to be bored." He said.

I smiled. "That's good to think like that. I'm up for a challenge. Haven't had one in quite a while anyway. I mean, how could we expect it to be easy anyway."

"Now that I think about it…" He was laughing. "We thought we could easily beat our parents' greatest rivals though we've learned most of our stuff from them. And they were taught under your parents too."

"But we've got the skills to compete." I said.

'Yes, definitely." He agreed.

"Who's the judge?" Solidad asked.

"I will." Lillian, the DJ during my parents' days walked over.

Solidad hugged her. 'It's Lillian from my contest days. She was a show coordinator."

"In shows?" Alex asked, not having taken history of Coordinating like I had through my parents.

"No. I was a DJ." Lillian answered.

"Oh." Alex said.

"Shall we start in the stadium nearby, the others are there from your fight earlier."

"Sure." I said.

"I'm sure there are many people still there. We'll take it as a little… break for the people."

"Sweet." Alex said.

"We should rest but then again… we can handle it." I said.

"We'll just let them rest until 2 more rounds." He suggested.

We arrived at the building, climbed up with our pokémon, and prepared ourselves. "Ready? 1, 2, 3, begin." Lillian yelled.

"Remember in contest battles, beauty before power." I said as we began.

"I know. I've seen my mom in contests before."

"I didn't know she coordinated."

"On occasion, in water-only shows."

"Oh yeah, she's a gym leader too."

"She and dad go back in forth like that."

The first attack was launched by them since we were busy talking but we dodged gracefully. His Pikachu jumped and so did my Squirtle.

"Water + Electric equals strength." He said.

I got the message. "K. Pikachu jump on Squirtle after I say go. Squirtle… air hydro pump." He flew up into the air and sprayed water everywhere. "Go."

"Pikachu… conduct a thunderbolt through the water." Pikachu did and they scattered but were covered in water already and the water through the air shocked them. Dewgong tried to counter but we dodged mid-air by hitting the wall with water.

Their points dropped a bunch. Our pokémon landed and then Cacturne did a needle spray.

"Protect." He called. Squirtle recoiled and stayed stuck in place, a technique I taught him. One that was all my own. Their points dropped farther.

"Protect Reverse." I called.

'But…"

"I know I can't… but you can. Just use protect on them." I said.

"I'll try."

"Focus on flipping the attack Pikachu. Image my attack. You can do it." I called to it. After a few seconds, it worked. "Full force electric attacks." I said.

Cacturne made it through but the water covered Dewgong that was entrapped was knocked out, knocking them to half of their points and less from before. "I'll finish this up." I turned to Squirtle.

"23-34." I told it.

'Squirtle." I jumped into the air and made a frozen pole from the ceiling, landing on the landing part it had made.

"Now." I called. It did a compination of skull bash, secret power and flying ice beam." It took the hits and was breathing horsely.

'I've got it." He said. There was an explosion. "Protect.' He called and Squirtle was knocked out.

"Squirtle." I said, gasping for it. Something hit me hard. It was Squirtle. I slid a bit across the floor but stabilized myself before I hit the wall.

"Min, you okay?"

"Yeah." I said, falling to my knees. "You okay Squirtle?'

'Squirt… tel." It said.

"It's okay. Come on Alex." I said.

'I've got it." He used a technique which seemed like an attempt at what Squirtle had just done except he held them with a thunder bind and shocked him while firing many attacks. We won. I sighed.

Pikachu jumped on his shoulder as he ran over to me. He knelt beside me. "Are you okay?"

"I had the wind knocked out of me… nothing big. Worst things have happened. And could have."

"Squirtle needs attention." Lillian said. I nodded handing it to her, as I trusted her to care for my pokémon.

Alex took my hand and helped me out. "You are amazing."

"So are you. Without your special individual techniques I couldn't have done it. Would have lost lots of points for attemps. I don't think things through and you gave Pikachu major confidence."

"He's welcome." I said rubbing the head of the little mouse pokémon. "You're a cutie aren't you?' I said. I looked at Alex and he was blushing. "I was talking to Pikachu."

"Oh… yeah right." I giggled. "But you're cute yourself too." I kissed his cheek and ran off to check on my pokémon.

My phone rang; it was mom or dad. "Hey guys." I said.

'It's me. That was amazing, beyond spektactular." My mom said.

"I agree, perfect." Dad added.

"That's Alex, right?" Mom asked.

"Mhm. We're probably going to be working together for a while."

'Well have fun. Congrats. That was a huge win for you guys."

"I know, but…"

"Don't say anything, a team win. Bye." Dad said hanging up.

"Dad." I said sighing.

"He's always like that when people doubt themselves. You and Alex won. That's all that matters." She said with a smile.

"Alright, bye mom."

"Bye sweetheart." Mom said hanging up the phone. I walked into the room and Squirtle jumped into my arms.

"That was quick." I said.

"He wasn't hit that bad. They didn't get to make very many moves did they?"

"No but that last one was…"

"Your mother's or father's original move. I forget which one's."

"I'll ask them another day."

"But no one could copy it like they did it."

"I know, not ever me." I said laughing. "Thanks."

I put Squirtle back into his pokéball and walked out of the pokémon care room. Alex was waiting for me. "Hey Min…"

"We should work together." I said. "We make an excellent team."

"Yes we do. And… I'd like that." He said, laughing.

"Good."

"Would you go out with me?" He asked, suddenly.

"Sure." I said with a smile. "I'd like that." I mimicked him. I took his Pikachu and ran off.

"Where are you going?"

"Anywhere but here until our next match." I said with a smile, still running but turning around.

"That's my Pikachu."

"I know but he's so adorable. I want to play with him. Pikachu, you want to come with me?"

"Pika." It said, it seemed happy enough.

"Man Pikachu, come back to me.'

"Sorry but see you later." I said as I ran off until Pikachu and I were at the beach. Alex arrived and we laughed as we swam together in the ocean until our next match. We smelled like the ocean, how free it was. I'm glad that Alex and I were together… like my parents and his parents were. Expect we admitted it easily that we liked one another unlike our parents. Yet we had only barely just met. It was a Welcome Partnership.


End file.
